Rights in context (1.4) Democracy & Participation - UK Politics Flashcards
Rights definition
Rights are legally protected freedoms, also known as civil liberties
When might rights be limited
In time of war or emergency
Examples of some of the rights.
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
European Convention on Human Rights
- 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
Human Rights Act
- 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)
The Equality Act
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.
Major milestones int the development of rights in the UK
1215 Magna Carta
1950 European Convention on Human Rights
1998 Human Rights Act
2010 The Equality Act
How does parliamentary sovereignty restrict rights
Because judges can only declare previous acts ‘incompatible’ and cannot force parliament to change them
Statistics for number of judicial reviews 2000 vs 2013
4240 vs 15,600
Implications of an increase in judicial review
An indicator that there is a growing prominence of rights
Examples of successful judicial reviews
2008 Retired Gurkhas should be allowed to settle in the UK.
2013 Government had not consulted fairly on compensation for people affected by HS2
Positive aspect of judicial review
Vital means of defending citizens rights, enabling the legality of government actions to be properly scrutinised
Negative aspect of judicial review
It places too much power at the hands of unelected & unaccountable judges
Judicial review and issue of privacy
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)
Example of judicial review creating a privacy law
- 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
Right-wing fault of HRA
Tends to favour undeserving individuals rather than protecting legitimate freedoms of UK citizens
Conservatives argument to replace HRA
Want to replace it with a British Bill of Rights which would establish the supremacy of British courts over ECHR
Example of HRA favouring undeserving individuals
Abu Qatada case
Abu Qatada case
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.
Lack of clarity of rights can lead to
Conflicts between pressure groups & individuals
Example of lack of clarity of rights leading to conflict between pressure group & individuals
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
Example of lack of clarity of rights leading to conflict between individual & pressure group
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.
Example of rights of individual coming into conflict with priorities of government
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)
Example of human rights still being enforced despite terrorism
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
Examples of government placing the safety of society above the protection of individual rights
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
