UK Parliament studies a British Bill of Rights

12/08/2008

Whilst proposals for a Charter of Rights struggle to gain�political support in New South Wales and�Senator Brandis sees it as an opportunity to "wedge" the Labor Party, the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human�Rights has published an upbeat report on the need for a British Bill of Rights to complement the Human Rights Act.

"There currently exists an unusual cross-party consensus about the need for a "British Bill of Rights", say the report's authors.

"The consensus across the political parties appears to reflect a wider consensus amongst the public. In the 2006 Joseph Rowntree "State of the Nation" survey of opinion, 77 per cent�of those polled agreed that Britain needs a Bill of Rights to protect the liberty of the individual (51 per cent�agreeing strongly with that proposition).

"There is considerably less consensus, however, about the reasons why a British Bill of Rights is needed, what rights should be contained in such a Bill of Rights, its relationship with existing human rights protections such as the HRA and how it should affect, if at all, the existing relationships between Parliament, the executive and the courts.

The committee asked for submissions to focus on four principal questions:

• whether and why a Bill of Rights is needed;
• the rights to be contained in a Bill of Rights;
• the relationship between a Bill of Rights, the HRA and the UK's other international human rights obligations; and
• the impact of a Bill of Rights on the relationship between the executive, parliament and the courts.

The report is in two volumes: Volume I contains the analysis and findings; Volume II the oral and written evidence.

12 August 2008

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