Bill of Rights ‘to give UK power to overrule European judges’

A NEW British Bill of Rights will give the UK powers to overrule European judges on issues involving migrants.

Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, will today unveil a major overhaul of human rights laws that will make Parliament and the UK’S Supreme Court the “ultimate arbiters” on European court judgments.

He will say the UK will remain within the European Convention on Human Rights, but that it will be free to determine whether to accept European judgments on policies such as the removal of migrants to claim asylum in Rwanda.

The Bill, which ministers hope will become law by the end of the year, will also restrict the ability of asylum seekers who are foreign citizens to fight deportation on the grounds it breaches their right to a family life.

A new “permission” test will be introduced so that only those who can show they have suffered “material and significant harm” to their human rights will be able to go before the courts.

“The thing that we are making clear is that the right to a family life can only be relied upon in, frankly, the most exceptional of circumstances,” said Mr Raab.

The Bill will also enshrine in law the “quintessential” British right to a trial by jury and to freedom of speech to protect against the advance of Europeanstyle privacy laws.

Mr Raab said the Bill would strengthen “our UK tradition of freedom”, inject a “healthy dose of common sense” into the system and enable the UK to “push back” on European court judgments.

He added: “It will make crystal clear that Parliament has the last word when it comes to the legislative function and the Supreme Court has the last word when it comes to the judicial function.

“We will be more assertive in safeguarding our own UK case law. It is legitimate to push back on Strasbourg.

“If an adverse ruling comes back in an individual case, it will be up to Parliament to decide whether the law changes and how – that’s how our democracy should work.”

He cited the example of the European court’s decision to uphold the rights of prisoners to vote, but which the UK restricted only to offenders on home detention curfews.

Courts will additionally be freed of their duty to take into account Strasbourg case law, enabling them to base decisions on UK tradition and law.

“We will be very clear that UK courts… are explicitly free to diverge from [Strasbourg],” said Mr Raab.

He confirmed that Britain would be able to ignore so-called Rule 39 injunctions, which prevented last week’s planned flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The Bill will make it clear that such injunctions are not “legally binding” in the UK.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is

currently challenging the injunction even though there is no formal appeal mechanism.

Ministers also want to “cut right back” on the number of human rights appeals against deportation by foreign criminals claiming breaches of their family life. They account for 70 per cent of successful challenges.

A criminal would have to prove a child or dependant would come to “overwhelming, unavoidable harm” if they were deported.

Criminals with longer sentences will also be less likely to challenge their convictions. The Bill will limit the ability of extremists in jails to challenge attempts to hold them in “separation units” by claiming that it breaches their “right to socialise”.

The reforms by the Government will pave the way for an overhaul of the Parole Board, by placing the protection of public safety above the rights of criminals to be freed from jail.

To boost press freedom and freedom of expression, there will be a stronger test for courts to consider before they can order journalists to disclose their sources.