Lord Lester QC warns on Human Rights Act reform
The UK government's plans to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA), replacing it with a British Bill of Rights, and reviewing Britain's relationship with the European Convention of Human Rights will please "pseudo democracies, dictators," and countries like Russia, a leading human rights lawyer has warned.
Speaking to BBC HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur, Lord Lester QC argued it was a question of values adding that the European Court of Human Rights defends common values including liberty, free speech and privacy.
The 1998 HRA incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights into domestic law and requires British courts to "take into account" judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
18 May 2016
- From the section UK Politics