Are plans to tear up the Human Rights Act set to be dropped?

Plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a new British “Bill of Rights” could be scrapped by the Prime Minister it has been suggested this month.

Speculation is mounting that Theresa May will abandon the controversial plans to rip up existing legislation and introduce an all-new legal framework.

Former Justice Secretary Michael Gove had previously been tasked with overseeing the new Bill, which was originally set to be published following the recent EU referendum.

Now however it has been suggested that the Prime Minister has asked Mr Gove’s predecessor, Liz Truss, to revisit the proposals – or perhaps abandon them altogether.

“The Bill is ready but my hunch is that she might junk it,” one government source told The Times earlier this month.

“I think the priority for the Justice department will be prison reform… I just don’t think the will is there to drive [the Bill] through.”

The proposals, originally outlined in Mr Cameron’s election manifesto, had drawn wide condemnation from both civil liberties groups and the UK’s devolved governments.

There had even been suggestions that doing away with the Human Rights Act, which was passed by Parliament almost 20 years ago, could actually undermine the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman has refused to be drawn on the speculation that the reforms were about to be dropped.

“We will set out our proposals for a Bill of Rights in due course. We will consult fully on our proposals,” they said.

At Lester Morrill, our Public Law team has brought numerous successful challenges where we have relied on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Human Rights Act, to protect our clients’ fundamental rights. To find out more about our services, please contact us today.