Scrapping the Human Rights Act would damage the country, warns parliamentary committee

The government should rethink plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a UK bill of rights, a cross-party parliamentary committee has warned.

The House of Lords’ European Union justice sub-committee highlighted varied and serious problems with the government’s plan, including that resulting constitutional problems could undermine the peace process in Northern Ireland and weaken the bill so that it ends up as an English bill of rights with no power in Scotland and Wales. The committee also reported that withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would damage the United Kingdom’s standing with the Council of Europe and moral authority overseas. The point of the bill was also called into question if it continues to uphold all the rights enshrined in the ECHR, to which Britain is already a signatory.

The news comes following calls from the home secretary, Theresa May, for the United Kingdom to leave the ECHR whether or not it decides to remain in the European Union – even though a vote to remain would make this legally impossible because signing up to the ECHR is a prerequisite for EU membership.

The report states: “Were the United Kingdom to depart from the standards of human rights currently recognised within the European Union, the system of mutual recognition which underpins EU justice and home affairs cooperation would be hampered by legal arguments over its application to the United Kingdom. We urge the government not to introduce domestic human rights legislation that would jeopardise the United Kingdom’s participation in this important area of EU cooperation in the fight against international crime.”

It also says: “Evidence demonstrates that the Scottish parliament and Northern Ireland assembly are unlikely to give consent to a bill of rights which repealed the Human Rights Act. Were the UK government to proceed without such consent, it would be entering into uncharted constitutional territory. The difficulties the government faces in implementing a British bill of rights in the devolved nations are substantial.”

Baroness Helena Kennedy, chair of the committee which produced the report, commented: “The more evidence we heard on this issue, the more convinced we became that the government should think again about its proposals for a British bill of rights. The time is now right for it to do so.”