A Scottish minister has restated her opposition to the UK Government’s plans to overhaul human rights laws.
The Bill of Rights is expected to return to the Commons in the coming weeks – after being shelved by Liz Truss’s government.
UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has insisted the proposals will “strengthen” freedoms and “curtail” abuses of the system.
But Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison told a conference in Edinburgh that the proposed legislation threatens the UK’s safety and security.
Mr Raab has said the Bill aims to allow the UK Government to deport more foreign criminals, prevent “spurious or unmeritorious claims”, reinforce the “quintessentially British right” of freedom of speech, and ensure the Westminster Parliament has the “last word on the laws of this land”.
Speaking at the Championing a High Standards conference, organised by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and its UK counterparts, Ms Robison said: “It seems we will now see the resurrection of one of the most partisan and shameful legislative proposals in modern UK politics.
“The UK Government’s proposed Bill of Rights Bill is – and remains – a Bill of wrongs. It is in truth a rights removal Bill, as civil society campaigners have so effectively labelled it.
“It has been claimed that these proposals will ‘curtail the abuse of human rights’. Well, let me speak plainly. The human rights abuses the UK Government really needs to address are the abuses caused by its own unfair and unjust policies.
“The Scottish Government, and Scotland as a whole, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with civil society activists and human rights campaigners throughout the UK.
“We are resolute in our commitment to defend the Human Rights Act, and to safeguard the rights of every member of society.”
Calling for the current human rights laws to remain intact, she added: “The Human Rights Act has a 22-year track record of delivering justice, including for some of the most vulnerable people and communities in Scotland.
“It is woven into the fabric of the constitutional settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It benefits us all, and it must not be repealed.”
A UK Government spokesman said: “The Bill of Rights will strengthen rights like freedom of speech which we have a proud tradition of across all parts of the United Kingdom, while also better protecting the public from dangerous criminals.
“We want everyone to benefit from our reforms which will re-inject a healthy dose of common sense to the system and end the abuse of our laws.”
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