header-logo header-logo

14 October 2019
Issue: 7859 / Categories: Legal News , Human rights , Brexit , EU
printer mail-detail

Protecting human rights

The Human Rights Act, which enacts the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, may come under attack again in the current ‘isolationist’ climate, Geoffrey Bindman QC has warned.

If there is another Conservative government, especially if it follows the UK’s departure from the EU, ‘we may expect it to renew plans to leave the Convention and repeal the Act,’ Bindman writes in this week’s NLJ.

‘There is no necessary connection between our adherence to the Convention and our membership of the EU but leading Conservative politicians have long disliked both, seeing human rights law, like the EU, as an encroachment on British sovereignty. The Conservative Party manifesto of 2015 commits a future Conservative government to withdraw from the Convention and repeal the Act, replacing both with a British Bill of Rights.’

Although some politicians have ‘relied on the occasional adverse Strasbourg decision to justify their criticism of what they see as foreign interference’, Bindman says the Strasbourg court’s margin of appreciation doctrine minimises disharmony by giving weight to the traditions and preferences of individual member states.   

Issue: 7859 / Categories: Legal News , Human rights , Brexit , EU
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

42BR Barristers—4 Brick Court

42BR Barristers—4 Brick Court

42BR Barristers to be joined by leading family law set, 4 Brick Court, this summer

Winckworth Sherwood—Rubianka Winspear

Winckworth Sherwood—Rubianka Winspear

Real estate and construction energy offering boosted by partner hire

Gateley Legal—Daniel Walsh

Gateley Legal—Daniel Walsh

Firm bolsters real estate team with partner hire in Birmingham

NEWS
A wave of housing and procedural reforms is set to test the limits of tribunal capacity. In his latest Civil Way column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold charts sweeping change as the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 begins biting
Plans to reduce jury trials risk missing the real problem in the criminal justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, David Wolchover of Ridgeway Chambers argues the crown court backlog is fuelled not by juries but weak cases slipping through a flawed ‘50%’ prosecution test
Emerging technologies may soon transform how courts determine truth in deeply personal disputes. In this week's NLJ, Madhavi Kabra of 1 Hare Court and Harry Lambert of Outer Temple Chambers explore how neurotechnology could reshape family law
A controversial protest case has reignited debate over the limits of free expression. In NLJ this week, Nicholas Dobson examines a Quran-burning incident testing public order law
The courts have drawn a firm line under attempts to extend arbitration appeals. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed of the University of Leicester highlights that if the High Court refuses permission under s 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, that is the end
back-to-top-scroll