repeal HRA and replace with BBOR

Question 1

HRA empowers judiciary

Answer 1

-with the allowance of declarations of incompatibility the power of the judiciary has increased
-Parliament has had to legislate in a matter that is compatible with HRA as judges could issue a ‘warning’
-27 DOIs from 1998-2022 average of just 1 per year
-northern irish anti LGBT law declared incompatible with ECHR, in turn the government changed a law
-from a liberal perspective this empowers liberal democracy allowing it to prevail

Question 2

judiciary empowered evaluation

Answer 2

Very few DOIs have been issued by the judiciary. For example, in the first 20 years following the HRA only 22 DOIs in total were issued. Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer and former director of Liberty, also pointed out that “higher courts can only issue a symbolic declaration of incompatibility – leaving it to Parliament to decide what to do next.” Therefore, in a system of parliamentary sovereignty, it isn’t a particularly strong protection from a human rights standpoint.

Question 3

peace in NI depends on it

Answer 3

-the overhaul of HRA undermines the Good Friday Agreement 1998 and with it peace in NI
-HRA and ECHR are key pillars of the devolution
-the convention runs through GFA particularly for policing (historical issue for nationalists) because of Northern Ireland’s binding human rights obligations have been crucial in building nationalist confidence after the Troubles
-the Sewel Covention also states that the UK government should’t amend the existing devolution settlements without consent from the regions

Question 4

NI peace evaluation

Answer 4

Opponents of the HRA question the logic of the above argument. Power sharing between the sectarian parties was the main reason for peace in Northern Ireland, not the HRA 1998. Indeed, the peace process began before the HRA even existed. The European Convention will remain even if the HRA is repealed.

Question 5

HRA undermines parliamentary sovereignty

Answer 5

-small ‘c’ conservatives believe it undermines parliamentary soverignty (a key part of the constitution) , parliament must not be bound by any predecessor
-parliament can technically ignore declarations of incompatibility but follows them by convention
-as of 2022 there have been 27 DOIs e.g. the Northern Irish LGBT law that was declared incompatible and was subsequently changed

Question 6

undermines parliamentary sovereignty evaluation

Answer 6

The HRA does not allow judges to strike down legislation. In this way, parliamentary sovereignty – according to which the powers of the UK Parliament are legally unlimited - is preserved. It may seem puzzling, then, that judges are considered (by some) to have too much power under the HRA. After all, Parliament - and so politicians, not judges - retains the final word.

Question 7

criminals charter

Answer 7

-to small ‘c’ conservatives the issue with universal rights is them being universal, the doctrine of ‘natural rights’ has led to some hugely unpopular outcomes
-the prisoner’s votes case in Strasbourg was won by an axe murderer
-islamic fundamentalists such as Abu Quatada have proved impossible to deport under the ‘right to family life’
-conservatives prefer more leviathan dealing with criminals rather than being forced to bow down by the judiciary
-power would be shifted to the democratically elected government

Question 8

criminals charter evaluation

Answer 8

Liberals suggest that the “criminal’s charter” argument is advanced by the right-wing media who deliberately take a small number of
high-profile cases and magnify them to shift public opinion against human rights legislation.