Conservative party sets sights on human rights reform

When the Conservatives return to parliament next week unshackled from coalition government, they will immediately fire their first salvo at Europe: scrapping the Human Rights Act and replacing it with a bill of rights that gives priority to UK sovereignty over Strasbourg's judges.

This move, to be overseen by Michael Gove, the new justice secretary, will herald a significant change to the way the European Convention on Human Rights is interpreted in the UK. After five years of Tory ministers battling against legal decisions made on the continent - such as the series of appeals against deporting the Islamist cleric Abu Qatada and the opposition to Strasbourg's demands that Britain give prisoners the vote - David Cameron, prime minister, is determined to regain control.

Since the Tories announced last autumn radical plans for human rights reform, their path has been clear. The British bill of rights will limit the use of human rights laws to the most "serious cases", banning anything "trivial" from recourse to Strasbourg.

It will seek to limit the use of Article 8 - the right to family life - which has been used by some serious criminals, including alleged terrorists, to avoid deportation. The bill would also give UK courts, rather than European judges, the final say in interpreting the European convention and, crucially, make Strasbourg's rulings advisory rather than binding.

Built into these plans is an explicit threat to the Council of Europe, which acts as the guardian of the ECHR. According to the Conservatives' plans, the government will "engage" with the council during the passage of the bill of rights and "seek recognition" that its approach is legitimate.

"In the event that we are unable to reach that agreement, the UK would be left with no alternative but to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights," the party warns.

Human rights organisations have protested. Bella Sankey, director of policy for the campaign group Liberty, says the universal rights and freedoms enshrined in the Human Rights Act was a response to the horrors of the Holocaust. "Turning our back on this framework will place us in the company of the military dictatorship of Belarus, the only European country not signed up to the Convention on Human Rights," Ms Sankey said.

However, there is strong support among the rightwing section of the public for the reforms. Polling by YouGov last year showed 78 per cent of Tory voters and 71 per cent of UK Independence party voters supported the repeal and replacement of the Human Rights Act. By comparison, just 20 per cent of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters were in favour of the changes.

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

Unless the prime minister can win over Tory rebels and secure the support of other parties such as the Democratic Unionist party, his chances of getting the bill through will be slim.

Appointing Mr Gove - previously the Tories' chief whip - to shepherd the bill was perhaps a recognition that its success will be as much about party discipline and diplomacy as drafting.

Even once the legislation has passed the Commons, the government will face further problems in the House of Lords, where their 224 Tory peers are stacked against a bloc of 314 Labour and Lib Dems.

The final hurdle will be to compose a "British" bill of rights amid an atmosphere of resurgent nationalism across the UK. The commission set up under the last government to propose such a bill was riddled with disagreements, and reported particular opposition from the devolved administrations.

The Scottish National party, which now has 56 MPs, is likely to demand a separate bill of rights for Scotland as distinct from a UK-wide policy.

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation