It’s time to drop the British Bill of Rights for good

The Government plans to scrap plans to scrap plans to scrap the Human Rights Act. Here we go again. Following snugly in the footsteps of her two predecessors as Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss has promised to implement the so-called ‘British Bill of Rights’ in its place. There were never good reasons for this policy, but at one stage there were at least some bad reasons. Now, even they have run out.

The European Convention on Human Rights affirms the rights to life, a fair trial and freedom of expression, among others. Until 1998, a Brit who thought their human rights had been violated needed to exhaust all their legal options at home before fighting to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. On average, that took five years and cost £30,000. If the applicant won in Strasbourg, the British Government was bound by international law to rectify its violation.