David Cameron: I Will Replace The Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act will be axed, David Cameron vowed yesterday.

David Cameron said: “I do agree that it would be good to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights. That was the Conservative policy at the last election. It is, I think, the right thing to do.”

He spoke out after Home Secretary Theresa May also declared yesterday the Act must go — two weeks after Deputy PM Nick Clegg insisted it was “here to stay”.

Ms May said human rights laws were stopping the Home Office from deporting foreign terror suspects and criminals and the PM lost little time in backing her.

But Cameron admitted the Coalition partnership with the Lib Dems would delay his plans. He told BBC1′s Andrew Marr Show: “Obviously it will go more slowly than Theresa or I want. Now are we going to just sit back and say, ‘Tough, nothing we can do?’ No, not a bit of it.”

He said he wanted to change the “chilling culture” created by the Act. He cited the case, exposed by The Sun, of a prison van being driven 100 miles to a jail to transport a prisoner 200 yards to court — sparing him the shame of a short walk in public.

He also hopes to reform the way the European Court on Human Rights and the European Court of Justice work. He said: “We are looking at creating our own British Bill of Rights. We are going to
fight in Europe for changes to the way the European Court works and we will fight to ensure people understand the real scope of these rights and do not use them as cover for rules or excuses that fly in the face of common sense.”

He said “a clear and codified” bill would allow the European Court of Human Rights to apply a “margin of appreciation” in its rulings - where judges are obliged to take into account the cultural, historic and philosophical differences between Strasbourg and the nation in question.

Cameron also added “I want National Citizen Service to be available to every teenager after GCSEs. I want them to learn that they can make a difference in their communities and that real fulfilment comes not from trashing things or being selfish but by building things and working with others. Above all, I want them to learn that Britain is a great country they should feel proud to belong to.”

Last night Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan condemned the plans, saying: “The Human Rights Act is the most significant defence for people against state power ever passed. Scrapping it is a lazy and incoherent position to hold.”

Sources:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/3849624/PM-I-will-rip-up-Human-Rights-Act.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12482442

https://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/266219

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5114102.stm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12277538

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8690572.stm

Images:
https://www.moneymad.org/David_Cameron_posters.htm

https://www.lgcm.org.uk/2011/11/do-we-need-a-uk-bill-of-rights-lgcm-says-no