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Backlash over UK’s proposed amendments to Human Rights Act (6 October 2014)

Date: 06/10/2014
Duncan Lewis, Immigration Solicitors, Backlash over UK’s proposed amendments to Human Rights Act

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has clarified how the UK would amend human rights law if the Conservative Party won a majority at the 2015 General Election.

Mr Grayling said that the UK would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and replace the Human Rights Act – which enshrines human rights law in Britain – with a Bill of Human Rights.

The new Bill would enable judges in the UK to make their own decisions about human rights judgments made in the Strasbourg Court – making Britain’s Supreme Court the highest court in the UK, rather than the Strasbourg Court.

However, Mr Grayling’s proposals have drawn widespread criticism from both judges in Britain and human rights campaigners.

Former Attorney General and Conservative MP Dominic Grieve called the proposals “puerile” and said that in many cases, there was a misunderstanding about what the European Court of Human Rights did:

“Even the paper which has just been produced by Chris Grayling contains in it a number of howlers which are simply factually inaccurate,” Mr Grieve said.

The director of campaign group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said that the proposals put forward by Mr Grayling to amend human rights law in Britain were “legally illiterate” – and “amounted to judge bashing”.

Mr Grayling has vowed to restore the UK’s Supreme Court to the highest court in the land, after Home Secretary Theresa May has struggled to deport individuals suspected of links to terrorism.

The UK has also been unable to deport convicted criminals who have served their sentences back to their home countries if under the Human Rights Act deportation would interfere with their rights to a family life, or if they are likely to face persecution or violence if returned home.

Britain has spent millions of pounds on cases involving failed deportations – included failed asylum seekers – because the individual was granted leave to remain in Britain under existing human rights law.

Mr Grayling said he would seek a declaration from the Strasbourg Court that Britain is entitled to have the final say on whether rulings by the European Court become law in the UK.

If agreement is not reached with the EU court, the UK would withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which was first proposed by

Mr Grayling has rejected criticisms made about his wish to reinstate the Supreme Court as the top court in the UK.

“The European Court of Human Rights has moved into areas of law, areas of our lives, where nobody ever intended human rights law to apply and it should not apply,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We have the finest judges in the world – they are perfectly capable of taking decisions on human rights here,” he added.

Winston Churchill originally proposed human rights laws following WWII, to protect the rights of minority groups and the individual. Judges in Britain helped draw up human rights laws – but Mr Grayling said the current interpretations of the laws were “a blank cheque” to interpret and re-interpret the original convention “into newer and newer areas”.

Duncan Lewis Immigration Solicitors

Duncan Lewi immigration solicitors can advise migrants to the UK on matters such as illegal entry to the UK, the Fast-track Detention process, deportation from the UK and asylum applications and asylum appeals – including an individual’s rights under the Human Rights Act and making an application to the Strasbourg Court under the EU Convention on Human Rights.

Duncan Lewis is also a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors – our immigration lawyers speak more than 70 languages between them, so an outside interpreter is not usually necessary.

For expert legal advice on UK immigration law and the Human Rights Act, call Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors on 020 7923 4020.

For urgent help with immigration law, call the Duncan Lewis Emergency Hotline on 020 7275 2036, where an immigration expert is available 24/7.


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