The Conservative Party will not scrap the Human Rights Act while Brexit negotiations are ongoing, Theresa May has said.
However, should the party win the upcoming election, she said the Tories would “consider our human rights legal framework” once the UK has left the European Union.
Britain will also remain signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights for the duration of the next Parliament.
May, when Home Secretary, first pledged in September 2013 that a Conservative government would “scrap” the Human Rights Act as part of its manifesto for 2015.
Elsewhere, the Conservative manifesto praises Britain’s judiciary and pledges modernisation of the courts.
The manifesto also pledge a £1bn investment in prisons and specialist training in handling victims of serious sexual offences for publicly-funded advocates.
The manifesto can be read in full below.
Registering to vote is quick and easy, and you can do it here.
Keir Starmer defends ECHR but accepts Human Rights Act may be doomed
For comparison, links to the Liberal Democrat and and Labour manifestos, which Mr Simmons and the Editorial Board have neglected to comment upon. These have positive messages about human rights and pledges on legal aid with arguably greater impact on the the justice system. Also a link to a recent edition of All In The Mind about unconscious bias, which perhaps the author and the editorial board ought to hear. At least, I hope it is unconscious.
http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/5909d4366ad575794c000000/attachments/original/1495020157/Manifesto-Final.pdf?1495020157
http://www.labour.org.uk/page/-/Images/manifesto-2017/Labour%20Manifesto%202017.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08q60pr
Hi Norman: since neither the Lib Dems nor Labour had previously pledged to scrap the HRA, their positions on it are less relevant for this particular news story about a Conservative U-turn. But don’t worry: all parties will get plenty of coverage in the coming weeks.
Norman,
I agree with you. Good points made, especially regarding “unconscious bias”.
When Conservatives promise something, like the above, I find it hard to believe them. Scrap that, I don’t believe or trust them at all. They are just waiting for an opportunity to scrap the HRA, that’s their intention.
Perhaps Mr. Simmons and team should have researched the positions of the other politcal parties in relation to the HRA; and how many have campaigned against it, which arguably has led yet another u-turn from the “strong and stable” leadership of the Conservative Party:
Here’s an example of a what a decent article on the issue reads like (as opposed to what appears to be an endorsement of Conservative Party policy):
https://rightsinfo.org/general-election-mean-human-rights/
Richard, read pages 80-81 (82-83 PDF) of Labour’s manifesto and then explain how this is not relevant to this article.
http://www.labour.org.uk/page/-/Images/manifesto-2017/Labour%20Manifesto%202017.pdf