Human Rights Act review to decide if judges are being drawn into politics

Robert Buckland QC

Sir Peter Gross has been appointed by the UK government to determine whether the 1998 act, which domesticates the European Convention on Human Rights, is operating effectively.

A panel of eight is expected to report its findings next summer.

The panel will look at whether British judges are being drawn into politics.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland QC said recently that prisoner votes, which the UK government opposes, were a “difficult case” relating to the Human Rights Act.

Ministers see the review as part of a wider assessment of the constitutional arrangement between the judiciary, executive and Parliament.

Chair of the Panel, Sir Peter Gross, said: “I am delighted to chair the Independent Human Rights Act Review.

“I will undertake this role with a panel selected on the basis of its members’ wealth of experience coming from a variety of senior legal and academic backgrounds.

“The act constitutes a most important part of our legal framework; IHRAR will entail an independent process of careful reflection to consider its workings, together with whether and, if so, what, reforms might be justified.”

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Buckland said: “As Lord Chancellor, I am a successor to David Maxwell Fyfe, who was instrumental in the careful drafting of the Convention in 1950. I think we honour his contribution to the basic rights contained in that document, as well as the political traditions that he and I share, by committing to re-examine the way they work today.

“Let there be no doubt that this government remains committed to human rights and that our parliamentary democracy must continue leading the world in this area of the law. We believe that an independent review, led by the highly respected former Court of Appeal judge, Sir Peter Gross, is best placed to determine whether there are ways in which the HRA can and should change.

“The government does not have any preconceived ideas about the review’s findings, but we are looking for options and there are some specific areas where we would like to see a focus – including whether the act can result in judges being drawn, unduly, into matters of policy as well as law and whether they have struck the right balance between rewriting acts of Parliament and making a declaration of incompatibility.”

Labour shadow justice secretary David Lammy said: “It is bonkers that the government is prioritising launching an attack on human rights in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.”

He added: “There is no need for a review into the rights and freedoms that underpin our democracy and all of us enjoy.”