The chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned that whatever government takes power, "they must protect the gains that we have already made in equality".
"There is a sea change in our society and I have seen a huge desire to respond to these things across all of the parties," Trevor Phillips said.
He added: "We have to ask ourselves what kind of society are we rebuilding for?"
Mark Harper also addressed the fringe, which was hosted by Demos and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
"You are much less likely to escape poverty in Britain then you would have done a few decades ago," the shadow minister for work and pensions said.
"If I could pick one of these policies that would make Britain fairer then it would be our welfare policy," he said.
Harper added: "I believe that our welfare policy will give disabled people the opportunity to escape poverty."
Economist Andrew Lilico said: "It is vital that you do not let people get so poor that they fall into criminality."
Kate Wearing, Oxfam director for UK poverty, agreed with Lilico, suggesting that inequality is bad for Britain.
"It doesn't only impact people in poverty but it affects all of us", she said.
"It's easy to think that living on benefits is easy; but it isn't. The staggering cost is the opportunity cost of what this country is losing."
She added: "I think need to be tapping into the informal economy, the skills that people require to live on £65 a week could be put into supporting the economy."
Harper concluded: "We must make sure that the 2.8 million people who have been on incapacity benefit for over a decade are helped.
"James Purnell and myself do tend to share the same rhetoric; but he hasn't delivered, he has lost the battle."
Fringe details
"Fair or Fair weather?: Are Tories serious about social justice?" - Demos and the EHRC
October 7 2009, 12.30pm
- Richard Reeves, director, Demos (Chair)
- Mark Harper MP, shadow minister for work and pensions
- Trevor Phillips, chairman, Equality and Human Rights Commission
- Kate Wareing, director for UK Poverty; Oxfam
