Rights in context (1.4) Democracy & Participation - UK Politics

Question 1

Rights definition

Answer 1

Rights are legally protected freedoms, also known as civil liberties

Question 2

When might rights be limited

Answer 2

In time of war or emergency

Question 3

Examples of some of the rights.

Answer 3

The right to fair and equal treatment under the law, including the right to a fair trial and to peaceful possession of one’s property, and to freedom from arbitrary detention

Freedom of expression in speech and writing

Freedom of conscience, including worshipping a one wishes (and not being compelled to take part in religious observance)

Vote, to stand for election and to join a party or pressure group

Belong to an association such as a trade union

Freedom of movement

Social rights (often contentious) - right to education, employment, healthcare and welfare provisions

Question 4

European Convention on Human Rights

Answer 4

1950. Set up in Strasbourg to hear cases where people felt that their rights had been infringed in their own countries. UK citizens could appeal to the court but expensive and time consuming

Question 5

Human Rights Act

Answer 5

1998. Passed by New Labour government. Incorporated ECHR into UK law (the rights could now be defended in UK courts and didn’t have to be taken to Strasbourg)

Question 6

The Equality Act

2010

Answer 6

2010. Identified 9 protected characteristics.
      Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Illegal for public bodies, employers, service providers and other organisations and individuals to discriminate against people on any of these grounds in the workplace or in wider society.

Question 7

Major milestones int the development of rights in the UK

Answer 7

1215 Magna Carta
1950 European Convention on Human Rights
1998 Human Rights Act
2010 The Equality Act

Question 8

How does parliamentary sovereignty restrict rights

Answer 8

Because judges can only declare previous acts ‘incompatible’ and cannot force parliament to change them

Question 9

Statistics for number of judicial reviews 2000 vs 2013

Answer 9

4240 vs 15,600

Question 10

Implications of an increase in judicial review

Answer 10

An indicator that there is a growing prominence of rights

Question 11

Examples of successful judicial reviews

Answer 11

2008 Retired Gurkhas should be allowed to settle in the UK.

2013 Government had not consulted fairly on compensation for people affected by HS2

Question 12

Positive aspect of judicial review

Answer 12

Vital means of defending citizens rights, enabling the legality of government actions to be properly scrutinised

Question 13

Negative aspect of judicial review

Answer 13

It places too much power at the hands of unelected & unaccountable judges

Question 14

Judicial review and issue of privacy

Answer 14

Judges have been accused of effectively making a privacy law through the way they have interpreted HRA by seeming to give priority to Article 8 of ECHR (right to privacy) over Article 10 (the right to freedom of expression)

Question 15

Example of judicial review creating a privacy law

Answer 15

2008. News of the World published a story about Max Mosley’s (head of formula 1) sex life. High Court awarded Mosley substantial damages. Mosley was rich = unfair

Question 16

Right-wing fault of HRA

Answer 16

Tends to favour undeserving individuals rather than protecting legitimate freedoms of UK citizens

Question 17

Conservatives argument to replace HRA

Answer 17

Want to replace it with a British Bill of Rights which would establish the supremacy of British courts over ECHR

Question 18

Example of HRA favouring undeserving individuals

Answer 18

Abu Qatada case

Question 19

Abu Qatada case

Answer 19

Abu Qatada had served time in UK prisons and made speeches justifying use of violence to promote Islamic cause. He was regarded as a threat & ministers wanted to deport him to Jordan where he was wanted for trial.

However, legal advisors were able to fight deportation for 8 years on the grounds that he might be tried using evidence obtained under torture which breaches HRA.

UK had to sign a treaty with Jordan to prevent this (2013). Abu Qatada was cleared of involvement in terrorist bomb plots in Jordan but still viewed as a threat by British.

Question 20

Lack of clarity of rights can lead to

Answer 20

Conflicts between pressure groups & individuals

Question 21

Example of lack of clarity of rights leading to conflict between pressure group & individuals

Answer 21

Campaign for freedom of information (worked to bring the Freedom of Information Act 2000) opposed an attempt by a group of MPs to exclude parliament from the scope of the act on the grounds that they were entitled to confidentiality in their correspondence with constituents. The bill passed Commons but was dropped in the Lord

Question 22

Example of lack of clarity of rights leading to conflict between individual & pressure group

Answer 22

Rambler’s Association campaigned for the ‘right to roam’ in the countryside finally given legal force in Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Madonna & Guy Ritchie contested the right of the public to walk across their land. Planning inspectorate ruled in 2004 ramblers would have access to part of their estate that was out of sight of their home meaning their privacy would not be infringed.

Question 23

Example of rights of individual coming into conflict with priorities of government

Answer 23

Counterterrorism. 9/11 & 7/7 (London tube) and 2005 bus bombings led to government measures that limited civil liberties in the interests of protecting the wider community.

Dec 2004 the law lords (highest court pre-supreme court) ruled that ‘the indefinite detention of foreign nationals, on suspicion of involvement in terrorism was discriminatory.

Instead control orders were introduced (e.g. electronic tagging) despite adverse rulings by judges, until 2011 when coalition gov replaced them with Terrorism Prevention and Instigation Measures (TPIMs)

Question 24

Example of human rights still being enforced despite terrorism

Answer 24

November 2005 Blair’s gov proposed to extend the period that a suspect could be held before being charged from 14 to 90 days. It was defeated in commons.

Government compromised with 28 days and after a defeat in the Lords in 2008 abandoned attempt to increase it to 42 days.

Under the coalition it was reduced to 14 days and Labour idea of identity cards was scrapped

Question 25

Examples of government placing the safety of society above the protection of individual rights

Answer 25

Howard league for penal reform (campaigns for the rights of prisoners) - tends to not achieve much however does achieve minor issues such as securing 2014 high court ruling that obliged the government to drop its ban on prisoners’ families sending books to them