Police work and military operations could face fewer restrictions under plans to remove the legal obligation on judges to “take into account” European human rights rulings.
An overhaul of the Human Rights Act being prepared by Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, includes ending the duty on British courts to adhere to precedents set by the European Court of Human Rights. The plan, due in a consultation document this week, would go further than earlier proposals by amending Section 2 of the Human Rights Act.
This is likely to prove controversial. Last week, Joanna Cherry, the QC and Scottish National Party MP, told Mr Raab that such a move would “take the guts out” of the Act, which allows courts to apply the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The proposals have been drawn up after the Armed Forces warned that troops were being put “in harm’s way” due to a fear of facing legal action under European human rights laws, and the Metropolitan Police said that judgments meant officers’ time had been wasted investigating cases that will “never reach the threshold for prosecution” in case victims later made a complaint.
Proposals in consultation document
This year, Lord Pannick, a human rights QC, told the Independent Human Rights Act Review that ministers should amend the Human Rights Act to make clear in law that, while judges should still take ECHR rulings “into account”, they “shall not be bound” by decisions taken in Strasbourg.
This week’s Ministry of Justice consultation document is expected to propose options including explicitly stating that UK courts are not required to adhere to Strasbourg case law.
Mr Raab’s changes would make clear that UK precedents should trump those set by Strasbourg.
Senior defence figures have told the Independent Human Rights Review that personnel were facing a “Hobson’s choice” in war zones due to fears that the ECHR prevented them from transferring prisoners from overstretched military prisons to “local facilities”, such as those run by the Afghan government before the Taliban takeover.
The shake-up will include an attempt to make it more difficult for foreign criminals to frustrate deportation proceedings using ECHR Article 8, which safeguards the right to a family life.
