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Politics: UK Politics (C1P1) > Rights in context (D&P 1.4) > Flashcards

Rights in context (D&P 1.4) Flashcards

1
Q

What are rights?

A

A right is a legally protected freedom, also known as a ‘civil liberty’

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2
Q

What are some rights that are guaranteed under law?

A
  • Fair and equal treatement under the law
    > right to a fair trial
  • Freedom of expression
  • Freedom of conscience
  • Right to vote
  • Freedom of movement
  • Freedom of association
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2
Q

What are some examples of legal obligations which citizens undertake in order to recieve certain rights?

A
  • Obeying the law
  • Paying taxes
  • Performing jury service
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2
Q

What are some examples of moral obligations which citizens undertake in order to recieve certain rights?

A
  • Voting in elections
  • Playing a part to protect the environment, i.e. recycling
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3
Q

What is the notion of ‘active citizenship’?

A

Active citizenship includes offering voluntary service to help your community.

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4
Q

When was the Magna Carta written, and what did it include?

A

Magna Carta (1215)
> Right to a fair trial

Established ‘habeas corpus’; ‘bring the body’ - court order to produce a person before a court to determine lawful or unlawful detaining.

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5
Q

When was the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) written, and what did it include?

A

European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), 1950
> Very similar to UN Human Rights

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6
Q

What was the problem with the European Court of Human Rights between 1950 and 1998?

A

The court was set up in Strasbourg to hear cases; this was time-consuming and expensive.

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7
Q

When was the Human Rights Act written, and what did it include?

A

Human Rights Act (1998)
> Came into effect in 2000
> Included the right to life, prohibition of torture, right to a fair trial and right to privacy
> Could now be defended in UK courts

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8
Q

When was the Equality Act written, and what did it include?

A

Equality Act (2010)
> Brought together earlier pieces of legislation which fought discrimination (i.e. Equal Pay Act 1970, 1975 Sex Disrimination Act, 1976 Race Relations Act)
> Identified nine ‘protected characteristics’; age, disability, race, religion, sex, etcc
> Made it illegal to disriminate against people on any of the grounds in the workplace and in society

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9
Q

What is a ‘rights-based culture’?

A

A rights-based culture is a societal framework where individual rights are prioritised, protected, and promoted across all areas, including legal, social, and political systems (positive rights/liberty).

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10
Q

What are positive rights / what is positive liberty?

A

Positive rights (or positive liberty) refer to rights that require active provision or support from the state or society, such as the right to education, healthcare, or social security.

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11
Q

What are negative rights / what is negative liberty?

A

Negative rights (or negative liberty) are freedoms from interference by others, especially the government. They grant individuals autonomy by prohibiting external forces from restricting their actions, as long as those actions do not harm others.

Focuses on the absence of constraints.

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12
Q

What is parliamentary sovereignty?

A

Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle in the UK constitution that grants Parliament supreme legal authority.
> Parliament can make or repeal any law, and no other body, including the courts or government, can override or nullify its legislation.
> This concept establishes that Parliament is the highest legal authority in the UK, ensuring that no law is beyond its power to amend.
> However, it is sometimes constrained in practice, for example, by membership in international organisations or devolution agreements within the UK.

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13
Q

What is judicial review?

A

Judicial review is the process by which UK courts assess the legality of actions or decisions made by public bodies, including government departments and local authorities.
> It allows courts to ensure that these actions are lawful, reasonable, and fair, often based on principles such as procedural fairness and rationality.
> Judicial review does not question the merit of a decision itself but instead examines whether the body acted within its legal powers and followed correct procedures.
> If a decision is found unlawful, courts can order remedies, including annulment or requiring reconsideration.

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14
Q

How many judicial reviews were there in 2000, compared to 2013?

A

4,240 (2000)
15,600 (2013)

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15
Q

What are some examples of successful challenges to government policy?

A
  • Retired Gurkha soldiers should be allowed to settle in the UK (2008)
  • Government had not consulted fairly on compensation for people affected by the planned high speed rail link (2013)
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16
Q

What do the defenders of judicial review argue?

A
  • Vital means of defending citizens’ rights
  • Enables the legality of government action to be scrutinised
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17
Q

What do the critics of judicial review argue?

A
  • Places too much power in the hands of unelected and unaccountable judges
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18
Q

What have judges been accused of doing through their interpretation of the Human Rights At 1998, and what did this mean?

A

They have been accused of effectrively creating a privacy law, by giving priority to Article 8 (right to privacy) over Article 10 (freedom of expression); occured even though legislation from Parliament had not been written and it was not explicitly covered in common law

> Meant that wealthy individuals, who could afford to take legal action, had an unfair advantage.

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19
Q

What happened in 2008 with Max Mosley and the High Court?

A

In 2008, the High Court awarded Max Mosley (head of F1) substantial damages when the ‘News of the World’ published a story about his sex life
> Mosley later failed in a subsequent action in the ECtHR

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20
Q

What happened in the case of Abu Qatada?

A

Qatada, a radical muslim, made speeches jutifying the use of violence to promote Islam
> Wanted to deport him to Jordan to face trial
> Fought deportation for eight years on grounds he might be tried using evidence obtained under torture, a breach of the Human Rights Act
> Only in 2013, after Theresa May (HS) had signed a treaty with Jordan pledging such evidence would not be used, was he flown back to face trial and cleared of involvement

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21
Q

When was the Freedom of Information Act written, and what did it include?

A

Freedom of Information Act (2000)
> Brought into force in 2005
> Allowed the public the right to access data held by public authorities
> This Act allowed for the MPs expensives scandal in 2009 to take place

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22
Q

Why is there conflict over the Human Rights Act?

A
  • Allows judges to challenge government ministers
  • Makes it easier for ordinary people to challenge the government
  • Increased threat of terrorism has led to government taking actions in the interest of national security that conflict with individual rights
  • Some believe that ministers are extending their powers and the costs of civil rights and freedoms
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23
Q

What are individual rights?

A

Those which benefit an individual / a citizen

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24
Q

What are collective rights / the ‘collective good’?

A

Those which benefit society

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25
Q

What is the rule of law?

A

The rule of law is a fundamental doctrine by which every individual must obey and submit to the law; nobody is above the law.

26
Q

What is common law?

A

Common law is the development of law through historial usage and tradition, junior to statute law.

27
Q

What is the problem with the right to a jury trial being restricted in 1999?

A

The right to a jury trial was restricted in 1999 by new rules that made it more difficult for people accused of theft, burglary and assault from opting to be tried by a Crown Court (where juries sit), rather than by a magistrate; some argued this went against habeaus corpus.

28
Q

What two events seriously impacted legislation on national security, impacting on rights?

A

9/11 (2001)
7/7 (2005)

29
Q

What are civil rights?

A

Civil rights encompass the rights that individuals and the public are all entitled to.

30
Q

When was the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act passed, and what did it do?

A

Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001
> Gave the government legal power to imprison foreign terrorist suspects indefinetely without trial

31
Q

When was the Terrorism Act passed, and what did it do?

A

Terrorism Act 2006
> Extended the time for which suspects can be held without charge to 28 days and made ‘glorifying terrorism’ a crime

32
Q

When was the Investigatory Powers Act passed, and what was it?

A

Investigatory Powers Act 2016
> Allowed for retention of personal electronic data and its access for law enforcement

33
Q

What happened in 2020 with Ed Bridges and pressure group Liberty?

A

In 2020, Ed Bridges and pressure group Liberty brought a case against South Wales Police over whether it could use automatic facial reccognition technology.
> Court of Appeal ruled that more care should be taken, however benefits to society are ‘potentially great’ and threat to individual privacy ‘minor’

34
Q

When was the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act passed, and what did it do?

A

Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
> Limited the impact of public protests and thus generated significant opposition from civil liberties groups

35
Q

What did the Supreme Court rule in 2010 surrounding same-sex relationships?

A

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex relationships could provide grounds for claiminfg asylum in the UK
> ‘To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or supress the behaviour by which to manifest itself is to deny his fundamental right to be who he is’

36
Q

Why do judges have less power to protect the civil liberties of UK citizens compared to a country with a codifed constitution?

A

Judges have less power because of parliamentary sovereignty; technically, Parliament does not need to follow the Human Rights Act, as it comes from the EU, which is below Parliament in the UK.

37
Q

What are the goals of Amnesty International?

A
  • Ensure all human beings enjoy the rights set out in the UN Decleration of Human Rights and associated declerations on human rights
38
Q

What are the methods of Amnesty International?

A
  • Public activism
  • Targeted lobbying
  • Increase awareness
  • Close government relationship
  • Research papers
39
Q

What are the goals of Liberty?

A
  • Fighting unjust attempts to undermine civil liberties in the UK
40
Q

What are the methods of Liberty?

A
  • Combination of insider and outsider tactics
    > Lobbying
    > Research papers
    > Campaigns
    > Demonstrations
    > Online petitions

For example, supported Ed Bridges in 2020 against South Wales Police

41
Q

What are the main arguments in favour of a British Bill of Rights?

A
  • Would provide a clearer statement of the responsibilities the individual owes to society
  • Explicitly recognising parliamentary sovereignty
  • Would stop ‘spurious elastic interpretations of human rights’ - Raab, justice secretary under Johnson, 2021
42
Q

What are the main arguments against a British Bill of Rights?

A
  • Undermines the ECHR and the EU
  • Reduced protections
  • Potential politicisation
  • Increased legal uncertainty
  • Reputation concerns
43
Q

What right did the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 establish and what did this do in terms of liberties?

A
  • Established the right to roam
  • Strengthened rights and liberties
44
Q

What is an ASBO, and when was it first introduced?

A

An ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) first introduced in 1999, imposed a range of restrictions on (usually young) ‘offenders’, often on the basis of hearsay evidence and in the absence of a jury.

45
Q

What were the plans for the Identity Card Act 2006 about, and why did they fail?

A

The Identity Card Act 2006 provided for identity cards to be phased-in on a voluntary basis from 2009 (although these plans were abandoned after Labour’s 2010 defeat).

46
Q

What did the Blair government attempt to do in 2005, as a result of the 7/7 attacks?

A
  • Blair government’s proposal to extend the period that a suspect could be held before being charged, from 14 to 90 days, was defeated in the Commons.
  • The government then compromised on 28 days and abandoned a subsequent attempt to increase it to 42 days, following a defeat in the Lords in 2008.
46
Q

What did the Investigatory Powers Bill (‘Snoopers’ Charter’) do, when was it introduced, and what right is this a major blow to?

A

Investigatory Powers Bill 2016 — the so-called ‘Snoopers’ Charter’
> Increases the power of the intelligence agencies by obliging Internet companies to store information about customers’ browsing history.
> Authorises the retention of personal electronic data and its access for law enforcement, which is a major blow to the right to privacy.

47
Q

What happened in the Ed Bridges v South Wales Police case, what year did it take place and what pressure group was involved?

A

In 2020, Ed Bridges and the pressure group Liberty brought a case against South Wales Police over whether it could use automatic facial recognition technology.
> In its judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that more care should be taken in how the technology is used as there are valid concerns that the technology might be biased against protected groups (e.g. ethnic minorities who may be more likely to be labelled criminals due to the new technology still having bias).
> However, judges ruled that the benefits to society are ‘potentially great’ and the threat to the individual’s privacy ‘minor’.

48
Q

What is a TPim, when were they introduced into UK law and what did it effectively mean?

A
  • TPims restrict freedoms of suspects who have not actually been convicted or even tried for crimes such as terrorism
    > A TPim imposed strict limits on an individual’s freedom. The new law would mean this could be imposed for up to five years, with a yearly review.
    > The burden of proof was reduced to ‘reasonable grounds for suspicion’ ie - you could be labelled a terrorist by police and the government and have your freedom severely limited, without a high burden of proof of the fact!
49
Q

What did the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 do?

A

Limit the impact of public protests and has thus generated significant opposition from civil liberties groups.

50
Q

What is an asylum seeker?

A

An asylum seeker is a person who;
> Leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum in that other country.
> An immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and might have fled their home country because of war or other factors harming them or their family.

51
Q

What pieces of legislation that the UK is signed up to protect asylum seekers?

A

1951 Refugee Convention
ECHR (// Human Rights Act)

52
Q

What did the recent Conservative government think about asylum seekers (using formal and informal routes)

A

The UK Government’s recent view, that refugees who, as asylum seekers, arrived in the UK via informal routes like on small boats, will have different rights to those who arrived via formal routes, e.g. airports, therefore fundamentally undermines the law on refugees and asylum seekers.

53
Q

What was the Rwanda Plan?

A

As a way of deterring asylum seekers from making the journey to the UK on small boats, the government recently came up with the Rwanda plan.
> The government said asylum seekers who landed in the UK from such unsafe routes would be sent to Rwanda where they would live while their asylum claim was processed.
> This way the government hoped asylum seekers would feel the UK was not a good place to come to.

54
Q

What did the Court of Appeal say about the Rwanda Plan?

A

“Sending anyone to Rwanda would constitute a breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights” which states that no one shall be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said the judges.”
> Blocked the Rwanda Plan

54
Q

What did the Supreme Court say about the Rwanda Plan?

A

The Rwanda scheme was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court in 2023.
> Decided that the UK government’s original Rwanda Plan was unlawful because of the risk that asylum-seekers sent to Rwanda would be returned, directly or indirectly, to their country of origin where they would “face a real risk of ill-treatment in circumstances where they should not have been returned at all”.

55
Q

What is ‘non-refoulement’?

A

Non-refoulement is a fundamental principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in probable danger of persecution based on “race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” in international and national law
> Supreme Court blocked the RP on grounds of this

56
Q

What is the The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act, and what is its importance in relation to parliamentary sovereignty?

A
  • Passed in 2024
    > Made it law that Rwanda is a safe country, and stated that all law-makers (i.e. courts) had to abide by this agreement
    > Fundamentally undermined the Supreme Court
57
Q

Why was the 2006 Terrorism Act controversial?

A
  • It placed a higher value on the collective rights of society over the individual, as;
    > It allowed for 28-day detention without trail, infringing on the individual right to habeas corpus.
58
Q

What happened in Lee v Ashers Baking Company (2018)?

A
  • Homosexual persons attempted to purchase a ‘gay cake’ from a baker, but was denied
  • Taken to court on grounds of discrimination
    > Supreme Court unanimously held that the bakery would have refused this case no matter on who asked for it; no discrimination was present; this favoured religious rights over gay rights.
59
Q

What happened to Uber in October 2016, in relation to the clash between individual and collective rights?

A
  • Two drivers sued Uber in October 2016, claiming they were ‘employees’, not ‘self-employed’
    > Represented by GMB, speaking largely on behalf of 40,000 Uber drivers across the UK
    > Won the right to holiday pay and minimum wage
    > A number of people unhappy with this, as they can’t say they are ‘self-employed’ anymore
    > Collective right effectively suppressed the view of some individual members
60
Q

What happened to Ugandan male ‘YM’, in relation to individual rights over deportation?

A
  • ‘YM’ was unable to be deported from the UK in 2013 despite having clear terrorist links; the ECHR provision to a ‘family life’ was used to appeal proceedings, and the man had fathered multiple children in the UK since his arrival.
61
Q

What happened in to the Christian B&B in 2008, in relation to individual rights clashing?

A
  • In 2008, a Christian couple refused to allow a gay couple to stay in their B&B
    > Supreme Court ruled against the B&B (argument was they were ‘manifesting their religion’ in accordane to the ECHR), upholding gay rights but arguably suppressing religious rights

Politics: UK Politics (C1P1) (11 decks)

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