Tory plan to scrap the Human Rights Act under attack

Tory plan to scrap the Human Rights Act under attack

Article by Jonathan Rayner

The UK could find itself parting company from the EU if Tory pledges to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) are carried through, the head of the Council of Europe has warned Conservative party activists.

David Cameron has pledged to repeal the HRA, which since 2000 has incorporated the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. A replacement British Bill of Rights would lead to a less hands-on approach by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Tories argue.

The ECHR is funded by the Council of Europe. Council secretary general Terry Davis (pictured), in London this month to mark the 60th anniversary of the council’s creation, told the Gazette he had ‘privately warned’ the Tories that repealing the HRA could have far-reaching consequences. ‘In the first instance, it would return the UK to dependency on judgments from Strasbourg rather than its own domestic courts – as was the case prior to 2000. This will simply slow the process down, not least because the court has a 20,000 backlog of cases waiting to be heard.’ Davis added that to escape Strasbourg’s overarching jurisdiction the UK would also need to withdraw from the ECHR, which Strasbourg enforces. Withdrawal would disqualify it from membership of the council and thus from the EU ‘because every member state of the EU must be a member of the council, too.’

Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve has said that a British bill of rights would be compatible with membership of the Convention.

"Human rights are what they say on the tin. Rights that we are all entitled to simply because we are human. They are what the Nazis, for example, didn't give Jews, mentally ill people, gypsies, political opponents, the people of countries they invaded and the rest. The European Convention on Human rights arose from the ashes of World War II and we scrap laws defending human rights at our peril".