PART 1: THE PROPOSALS IN OUTLINE

The Conservative Party has opposed the HRA root and branch ever since its enactment. Manifesto commitments to overhaul the HRA were made in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019. In 2015 Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he was open to the “nuclear option” of withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (the ECHR) to ensure the UK’s highest court remains the “ultimate arbiter of human rights”, although this was to be delayed until after the referendum on EU membership. The Government has now, however, confirmed that the UK will not leave the ECHR.

In December 2020 the Government announced it was setting up an Independent Human Rights Act Review chaired by Sir Peter Gross, the former Lord Justice of Appeal. On 16 December 2021 the Review published its final report. On the same day the Deputy Prime Minister and new Justice Minister, Dominic Rabb, announced a packet of proposals to launch a new British Bill of Rights.

The impact of these proposals will be profound. In this article Richard Clayton outlines what the proposals will involve and will assess the impact of those proposals.

The UK Constitutional Law Blog published this article on 4 January 2022.

You can read Richard Clayton’s full article here

January 2022