A new report claims that UK human rights law “distorts parliamentary democracy, disables good government, and departs from the ideal of the rule of law.”
The document—co-authored by leading lawyers Richard Ekins KC (Hon) and Sir Stephen Laws KCB, KC (Hon)—called successive Conservative Party governments “half-baked” and “half-hearted” in their attempts to reform the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
To date, the specific legislation has attracted widespread criticism, not least for blocking Home Office attempts to deport migrants who arrived illegally in Britain—with little effective action to reform or abolish it. A particularly tricky obstacle to reform is Britain’s relationship with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The report concludes
Unless parliamentarians and others learn the lessons of these failures, no future programme of human rights law reform is likely to succeed.
Nigel Farage of Reform UK—currently riding high in the polls—has promised immediate action on the issue if elected.
