British bill of rights 'will put judges in a difficult position'

British bill of rights 'will put judges in a difficult position'

Former lord chief justice Lord Woolf warns of conflict between European convention on human rights and proposed British bill of rights

Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 February 2011 09.55 GMT

Kenneth Clarke has pledged that there is 'no chance' of Britain pulling out of the European convention on human rights. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

A former senior law lord has warned of a conflict between the European convention on human rights (ECHR) and David Cameron's proposed British bill of rights.

Lord Woolf, a former lord chief justice, said he feared judges would be put in a difficult position as they tried to balance opposing rights, adding that the bill could force the UK to leave the ECHR.

His comments followed a public outcry over the European court of human rights' ruling last year that serving prisoners should be allowed to vote – a decision parliament voted to ignore earlier this month.

Woolf, who was the lord chief justice from 2000 to 2005, said he was "relieved" that the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, had pledged there was "no chance" of Britain pulling out of the ECHR.

But Clarke said he would seek to kick-start reform of the ECHR to rebalance its relations with national courts when the UK took over chairmanship of the Council of Europe in November.

The government will soon launch a commission on the creation of a British bill of rights, but Clarke said it was not yet clear exactly how such a law would interact with the European convention.

He added: "The government's policy is to continue to be a signatory of the European convention of human rights, and the government's policy is to have a commission to investigate the case for a British bill of rights and whether that could improve the relationship between Strasbourg and here."

But Woolf told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "If you have a further convention – a British convention – there's going to be a complication in the position, because you're going to have two conventions to which the courts are going to have a regard.

"We have got a stark option – either we accept the European convention, or we don't accept it and decide to leave the Council of Europe.

"It's very difficult to do what Mr Clarke indicated he would like to do when he's chairman of the relative body, because there are 47 signatories in Europe which are signatories to the European convention as well as ourselves. To try and amend that is a virtually impossible task."

He added: "I don't see any problem about the commission that is being set up, and I was very relieved Mr Clarke indicated there would be no question of us withdrawing from the European Council and the European convention on human rights."