DAVID Cameron is warned today by a raft of campaign groups and political opponents of their determination to block his bid to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights as a centrepiece to his programme for the UK Government in the Queen’s Speech.
The warning came as the SNP demanded - just eight weeks after the Scotland Bill became law - a new Home Rule Bill for Scotland to transfer even more powers to Holyrood.
Prime Minister wants to enshrine in a bill of rights the supremacy of UK courts to enable British judges to have the final say on human rights cases following concerns foreign criminals, including terrorists, have been able to use current human rights laws to avoid deportation.
The Liberal Democrats – successful in the House of Lords last autumn in scuppering the Conservative Government’s plans to axe tax credits – are planning to “torpedo” Mr Cameron’s bill of rights' plan in the second chamber.
Tim Farron, the party leader, said: “We have fought for centuries to establish our basic rights. It is very dangerous to start playing around with them now in order to score a few political points and placate a hostile cabinet."
Alistair Carmichael, the former Scottish Secretary and now the Lib Dem’s home affairs spokesman, said he had obtained a letter from the Irish Justice Secretary to UK Justice Secretary Michael Gove, warning him that British withdrawal from the Act could undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
The Orkney and Shetland MP also noted: “The devolved settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have the European convention hard-wired into them. This Tory government seems hell-bent on unravelling the Union by their actions.”
Meantime, an alliance of more than 130 groups - fronted by Liberty, the British Institute of Human Rights and Amnesty International - have come together to oppose scrapping the Act, believing a British bill would be weaker and diminish rights protection.
They include Lockerbie victims’ relatives, the TUC, Carers UK, Scotland’s children and young people’s commissioner, a raft of charities supporting children, older people, victims of trafficking and slavery, disabled people and asylum-seekers as well as national groups representing psychiatrists, teachers, football supporters and students.
Bella Sankey for Liberty, said: “These diverse organisations speak as one in defending the Human Rights Act. They join all the devolved administrations, all major opposition parties, Conservative rebels, anti-apartheid activists and thousands of ordinary people in opposing divisive and discriminatory plans to replace human rights with Government-sanctioned privileges.
“There is a long struggle ahead but as the chorus of condemnation grows how much longer can the Government refuse to listen?” he added.
Among measures expected to be in today’s Queen’s Speech are:
*the biggest shake-up of Britain's prison system since the Victorian era with the first six semi-autonomous "reform prisons" planned for south of the border;
*an Extremism Bill, targeting hate preachers;
*a Digital Economy Bill to spread broadband to the more remote parts of the UK;
*a Lords Reform Bill to limit the power of peers to block Government legislation;
*a Care Bill to boost adoption and
*a Technology Bill, covering the growing use of driverless cars, controlling the use of drones, and building the first commercial spaceport, possibly in Scotland.
Meantime, the SNP put forward its alternative Queen's Speech, which included measures to clamp down on tax dodging and support renewables and the UK's wider energy sector.
Angus Robertson, the party's leader at Westminster said: “The party seeks long-overdue radical democratic reforms of parliament and the electoral system and calls for a Home Rule Bill to provide the meaningful devolution to Scotland that current and former Westminster party leaders promised the Scottish people during the independence referendum."
Labour's Ian Murray, the shadow Scottish secretary, said: “With growing unemployment in Scotland, spending cuts that are hitting public services and fewer and fewer opportunities for our young people, this should be a Queen’s Speech that ends the failed austerity policies of this Tory Government, helps working people and gets our country back on track.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel