Senior Tory sparks alarm over failure to commit to key human rights treaty
A senior Tory minister has sparked alarm after failing to offer assurances the UK will remain signed up to a key human rights treaty after Brexit.
Solicitor general Michael Ellis evaded questions over the UK’s future relationship with the European convention on human rights (ECHR) amid concern over whether Boris Johnson intends to water down vital protections.
It comes as Mr Johnson signalled a willingness to take on the judiciary by appointing Suella Braverman, who previously condemned “unelected, unaccountable” judges, as the new attorney general. He is also expected to push through potentially fundamental changes with a new Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission. No date has been set for this review to begin.
Labour’s Geraint Davies asked the solicitor general for explicit assurances that the UK would retain its decades-long support for ECHR. Speaking in the Commons, the Swansea West MP said: “The solicitor general knows that our institutions of liberal democracy – the BBC, the judiciary and the civil service – are under attack. He is planning to water down the Human Rights Act. Will he give a solemn undertaking that we will not be withdrawing from the European convention on human rights, which was established 62 years ago, with the help of Winston Churchill, and nor will we withdraw from the Council of Europe?”
Mr Ellis replied: “The UK is committed to human rights. The fact is that our EU exit does not change that; the UK will continue to champion human rights, at home and abroad – it is part of who we are as a people. We practised human rights before the 1998 Act and we will continue to do so. We are committed to upholding the rule of law. The UK is a beacon in this area around the world, and leaving the EU does not change that.”
Mr Davies described the minister’s response as a “deafening silence”, telling The Independent: “The danger it seems to me is that the PM doesn’t recognise the importance of the judiciary and the institutions we have that keep our democracy alive.”
The comments also sparked concern from the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, a senior lawyer, who warned the government was trying to “weaken the rights of citizens” through Brexit.
Ms Cherry, who serves on the Joint Committee for Human Rights, told The Independent: “Membership of the ECHR and recognition of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights are fundamental guarantees of the rights of every citizen in the UK. The Tory government seems determined to use Brexit to weaken the rights of citizens. This should worry us all, particularly with the appointment of Suella Braverman as attorney general, given her antipathy towards the judiciary and international rights protections.”
The ECHR is an international convention between members of the Council of Europe, which is separate to membership of the EU. The UK first ratified the treaty in 1951. Under the convention, citizens of signatory countries can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if they feel their rights have been breached.
The UK government passed its own Human Rights Act in 1998 to write ECHR rights into domestic law, allowing people in Britain to appeal to UK courts over breaches of their rights without having to go to Strasbourg.