Unveiled at last: Bill of Rights that will back British justice
COMMON sense will be restored to Britain’s justice system under a new Bill of Rights, Dominic Raab has vowed.
It would give priority to UK judges over European ones and ensure Parliament has the ‘last word’ on the law of the land, the Lord Chancellor told MPs.
Introducing the proposed Bill of Rights, he also promised it would make it easier for foreign criminals to be deported.
Spurious human rights claims would be thrown out of court at the first opportunity and British troops fighting overseas would be shielded from legal action as cases would be limited to this country.
The public would also be protected as there would be tougher rules for dangerous criminals seeking parole and terrorists spreading poison in prison.
But an emphasis on freedom of speech would mean fewer privacy injunctions being granted to the rich and famous.
Mr Raab told the Commons yesterday: ‘Our Bill of Rights will strengthen our proud tradition of freedom… and restore a healthy dose of common sense
to the justice system. Ultimately, it will make us freer and help to keep our streets safer.’
The reforms will mean the repeal of Labour’s Human Rights Act, first promised by David Cameron in 2007, and have angered Left-wing lawyers who say they will take rights from the people and hand more power to the State.
An impact assessment of the
draft Bill reveals restrictions on domestic claims may lead to more cases going to the European Court of Human Rights. But Mr Raab said the UK would not quit the European Convention on Human Rights, as demanded by some Tories after the Strasbourg court last week blocked the first planned deportation of migrants to Rwanda.
Under the new law, if the
Strasbourg court makes a ruling that the UK Government has breached the human rights convention, a minister will have to tell Parliament, increasing democratic oversight.
And British judges will have to both ‘respect the will of Parliament’ in human rights cases and make sure they do not have to apply Strasbourg case law.