A change of heart or a change of tactics?

Dominic Raab’s plan to rip up the Human Rights Act and replace it with a second rate bill of rights has been dropped by the Government.

Mr Raab, who was sacked by the incoming Prime Minister earlier this week, said his plans would strengthen our UK tradition of freedom, whilst injecting a healthy dose of common sense into the system.

That view was not shared by Unlock Democracy or the huge cross-party campaigning movement that grew up to oppose the plan.

It was clear from day one that this was a flat out government power grab that would weaken human rights in the United Kingdom.

The nature of this Bill was entirely in keeping with recent legislation such as the Elections and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Acts. It gives the government more power and reduces the rights of citizens.

The campaign against the bill has been active for many months and was gearing up for the Bill’s return to Parliament next week.

That won’t happen now. 

You can read more about this in The Independent.

One Whitehall source described the bill as a “complete mess”.

While we’re delighted that the immediate threat of this bill has passed, we’re not celebrating too much yet. 

It’s too early to say whether this is a change of heart or a change of tactics.

We fear it is likely to be the latter. 

The Independent reported that the Government plans to push on with an overhaul of human rights saying that “the principles and objectives more generally [are] not shelved.” 

All the indications are that, if anything, Liz Truss’s government could prove even more hardline when it comes to growing the power of government at the expense of citizens.

The new Prime Minister has indicated that she is open to pulling the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is a convention the UK helped to draft after the Second World War and ratified 70 years ago.

Pulling out would be a huge step backwards for our democracy and our human rights and send the wrong message to autocrats around the world.

We will be keeping a close eye on what the Government is saying on this important issue. Together, alongside a large coalition of pro-democracy organisations, we will be ready for the next stage of our fight to protect our human rights.

In the meantime, we are focusing on our new campaign calling on the Prime Minister to take action on sleaze, cronyism and rule-breaking in our politics. You can find out more about that campaign by clicking below.