Abandoning human rights – the most extreme Tory act yet

So finally we get the Tory announcement of their intention to legislate against compliance with European Court of Human Rights judgements, coupled with overt threat to pull out of the European Convention altogether.

Does this rate as the most extreme act from a party which is finally abandoning the mainstream once and for all, and one which potentially has the longest-lasting consequences for Britain’s reputation in the world?

As always on Europe, the Tories will never acknowledge the positive case which of course has seen landmark decisions over the years in favour of victims of domestic violence, of thalidomide or involuntary medical treatment.

Instead Tories trumpet the small number of cases such as prisoner voting rights, deportation of terrorist suspects or “whole life sentence” murderers, which echo and further inflame the worst ravings of their friends in the tabloid press.

Labour must never be shy of engaging in serious debate about such issues nor ourselves from acknowledging legitimate public concerns.

But all advocates of human rights and any responsible political party must equally make the case that human rights are not about its subjects being popular, but about minimum standards of legal treatment for all human beings irrespective of popularity.

Perhaps it is no surprise when Tory ire has been provoked by the European Court judgements in favour of same sex partnerships, that the proposals are being brought forward by the same Chris Grayling who crassly and offensively said landladies should be able to deny bed and breakfast to gay couples.

The deepest contradiction in the Tory argument concerns the absolute falsehood they peddle about the primacy of European Court judgments. The Court decides in individual cases whether the UK or any other member state has breached a person’s rights and it has always has been the case that only Parliament can change that law in response.

At present, the rules say that British judges must “take into account” the decisions of Strasbourg Court and the Parliament, “so far as it is possible to do so” and that the UK or any other member has “a margin of appreciation when interpreting Convention rights.”

Indeed this is a political fight about the rule of law rather over the rule of the mob.

If the Justice Secretary was to accuse British judges of having a ‘legal blank cheque’ rather than the judges of Strasbourg, there would be a rightful outcry in the legal establishment about undue political interference in judicial discretion.

Following on from cuts to legal aid and restrictions on judicial review, this latest announcement simply confirms that this is a Government that is intent on freeing itself from any external scrutiny.

Politicians who make the law must never ourselves say we are outside of it. Indeed these latest Tory proposals strike at the very heart of Article 7 of the Universal Declaration that are equal in the eyes of the law. Meanwhile the human rights victims who will suffer most from this dangerous stupidity are trapped in other countries where the primacy of the European Convention is quite literally their lifeline.

Tell Russia, Armenia or Azerbaijan that their less-than fully democratic parliaments can ‘override’ European Court judgements which have the status of only being ‘advisory.’

The Tory plan would see Britain practicing the most hypocritical double standards in our international relations, stripping us of moral authority to press for the respect of human rights in Europe and everywhere else in the world.

It is ironic that the announcement is made on the same day that David Cameron is in Afghanistan. As he doubtless utters warm words about the right of girls to go to school or in favour of the right to religious belief against the threat of ISIS in Iraq, the British Prime Minister should be deeply ashamed that he is leading a party which is so prepared to jeopardise international support for the universality of human rights.

Many of your party members say charity begins at home, Prime Minister, but you should have the honesty to tell them so do human rights.

Richard Howitt MEP is Labour Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Human Rights in the European Parliament and is a founding member of the Labour Campaign for Human Rights.