We find recent proposals to repeal the Human Rights Act, and to reform the UK’s relationship with the European Court of Human Rights, profoundly worrying.

The Act protects each and every individual’s fundamental rights, regardless of political environment. It provides UK courts with the tools to keep the actions of the government and public bodies in check, and through our courts gives individuals in the UK the power to defend their rights against abuse - without having to take long, expensive cases to the European Court. We are concerned that removal of this Act will politicise human rights, by allowing exceptions to be made against our fundamental liberties to suit political whims.

Nor are we convinced that a ‘British Bill of Rights’ will provide suitable protection of our rights. The European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into UK law through the Human Rights Act, sets a standard for freedoms that each individual enjoys by virtue of their humanity, across the countries and cultures that are signatories to the Convention. If Britain seeks to withdraw from these standards to reflect ‘British values’, we tell oppressive regimes the world over that they, too, can pick and choose their standards. A British Bill of Rights diminishes the value of human rights not just at home, but on the international stage. 

We are also deeply concerned by the presentation of an ‘ultimatum’ towards the European Court of Human Rights: act only as an ‘advisory body’, or the UK will withdraw from the Convention. This presents two equally worrying outcomes: tell the world that the UK can pick and choose which rights it gives its citizens, or be one of only two countries in Europe not a signatory to the Convention. This would leave us on equal footing with Belarus, Europe’s last dictatorship.

We want David Cameron and Chris Grayling to carefully reconsider this policy change before irreparable damage is done to the rights of individuals and families here in the UK, and to the standards our example sets to our neighbours internationally.