The Human Rights Act has been in force for nearly a decade. It is now at the centre of English public law – featuring in nearly half the cases in the House of Lords and the Supreme Court. But it has not been popular. The Conservative Party is now firmly committed to the repeal of the Human Rights Act and its replacement with a “UK Bill of Rights”. David Cameron recently said
“we’ll scrap the Human Rights Act, which has put our police in the ridiculous position of trying to tackle the most serious crimes without putting the faces of the most wanted criminals on posters, and made it incredibly difficult for the government to deport people who they know to be threat. Instead, what we need is a modern British Bill of Rights which clearly sets out people’s rights and responsibilities, and strengthens our hand in the fight against terrorism and crime”. Read the rest of this entry »