In defence of a British bill of rights

Amnesty International and Stonewall are no strangers to criticising the government. This week they’ve been at it again: blasting Dominic Raab’s plans to make adjustments to the Human Rights Act by replacing it with a British Bill of Rights. But they are wrong to attack an approach that most Brits will realise is perfectly sensible.

Raab’s plan, which was set out in the Queen’s Speech yesterday, is simple. Britain will remain in the European Convention on Human Rights when it comes to international matters, but when interpreting domestic laws, it will change its emphasis slightly. Our courts will be required to downplay decisions of the Strasbourg court, which has in the last 30 years or so interpreted the Convention in a remarkably free-wheeling way and correspondingly cramped national governments’ style. Strasbourg’s decisions will be a mere guide to the meaning of the Convention in Britain, with our judiciary ultimately responsible for interpreting it. This is surely a wise approach.