Plans to make universal rights subordinate to ministerial opinion and political whim mark a backwards step for British democracy
There are two ways ministers can avoid falling foul of human rights law. One is to govern with respect for universal human rights, as codified after the second world war in response to unspeakable atrocities. The other way is to redefine those rights, making their interpretation subordinate to political expediency. Boris Johnson’s government has chosen the second path.
The method is a new bill of rights, replacing the 1998 Human Rights Act, which incorporated the 1953 European convention on human rights into UK law. The change is not a withdrawal from the European court of human rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, which adjudicates on the convention, but it is a dilution of the protections it represents.
