Archive for March, 2011

As always, there are few issues where the current Government and Opposition agree, but Human Rights and the degree of intrusion by European law in this area appears to be one area where there is some consensus. Both agree that the European Court of Human Rights (which is often condused with but is separate to the EU Court of Justice) is becoming too powerful and that decisions made in Strasbourg are against the thrust of public opinion nationally. A recent example of this relates to the European ruling that prisioners ought to be entitled to vote.

The suggestion being currnetly mooted in Westminster is to pass a new Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act. The crucial part of such legislation would be to give English common law precedence over anyb decisions made in Strasbourg. We will of course continue to monitor this potentially very significant shift in policy on Human Rights and report further in due course.