Ex-minister fears for Human Rights Act’s future
David Cameron risks tearing the coalition apart if he attempts to abolish the Human Rights Act, a former Labour minister has told politics.co.uk.
Michael Wills, who served as human rights minister in the last Labour government for nearly five years, argued in a comment piece that the issue has the capacity to “blow the coalition up”.
Comment: Why the coalition should steer clear of the Human Rights Act
He contrasted the “split” Conservative party with the unequivocal support for the Human Rights Act of the Liberal Democrats.
“David Cameron continues to flirt with repealing the Human Rights Act. This pandering to ill-informed prejudice among his own grassroots would in practice mean significant damage to the rights and liberties of every British citizen,” Lord Wills wrote.
“If the prime minister pursues this course it will pose an existential problem for the Liberals.
“They can either go along with the Conservatives to stay in power or they can honour the principles, which they have so long upheld. Sooner or later this is likely to be a defining question for this coalition.”
The fate of the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, is tied up in a forthcoming commission examining options for a British bill of rights.
Ministers are refusing to rule out an outright abolition of the legislation as it currently stands.
Lib Dem justice minister Tom McNally told the Lords earlier this week: “I do not think of the decision to go ahead with a commission on the working of the Human Rights Act as any dark plot to repeal it.”
But he said that more needed to be done to make the legislation accessible to ordinary Britons, as it lacked “national buy-in”.
“Our exercise will educate people and give them a greater understanding,” he added. “It is not a Human Rights Act for villains. It is our Human Rights Act and the more we understand that, the better it will be.”
Lord Wills said he had not witnessed any concerns from lawyers about the implementation of the Human Rights Act during his four-and-a-half years as human rights minister.
He acknowledged that the protections the act offered should be improved, but added: “I fear the Conservative MPs who pursue a crude populism on these issues have not foreseen the consequences of their actions, not least for the future of the coalition.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We intend to establish a commission during 2011 to investigate the creation of a UK bill of rights that incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European convention on human rights, ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in British law, and protects and extends British liberties.”
