SNP MP calls on Theresa May to rule out replacing Human Rights Act

Liz Truss - credit Paul Heartfield

The SNP’s justice and home affairs spokesperson Joanna Cherry has called on Theresa May to scrap plans to replace the Human Rights Act.

It has been reported the Prime Minister has asked the UK’s Justice Secretary Liz Truss to reconsider plans to overhaul human rights legislation.

In the 2015 Tory general election manifesto the party pledged to scrap the 1998 Human Rights Act and introduce a ‘British Bill of Rights’.

RELATED CONTENT 

Plans to scrap human rights act postponed

Ruth Davidson distances herself from Theresa May over call to leave European human rights convention

The commitment promised to “remain faithful to the basic principles of human rights” but “reverse the mission creep that has meant human rights law being used for more and more purposes, and often with little regard for the rights of wider society". 

When standing for Tory leader, May, although originally a proponent of scrapping the act, appeared to distance herself from former Justice Secretary Michael Gove's plans to abolish it.    

SNP MP Cherry has now written to May, seeking confirmation of the moves to reverse the plan and calling for her to resist the demands of Tory MPs to scrap the act.

Critics of the Tory plan, including Nicola Sturgeon, have said that abolishing the act would diminish the UK's standing in the eyes of the world and warned that any such move would face cross-party opposition at Holyrood.

Cherry, who is also a QC, said: “Theresa May needs to ditch these damaging plans to scrap the Human Rights Act.

“While it is encouraging to hear she has requested a review of her government’s plans, she should not bow to pressure from her backbenchers.

“These are our fundamental rights as citizens of the UK and it is unbelievable that after many months of prevarication and mixed-messages the UK government still cannot tell us what its plans are or whether it intends to force Scotland out of the European Convention on Human Rights against our will.

“Human rights are a devolved matter in Scotland. The Scottish Government and Parliament must be consulted on any proposals to scrap the Human Rights Act or to take Scotland out of the ECHR.

“Given the strong opposition of the Scottish Government and the concerns of the other devolved administrations about Tory plans to scrap the Human Rights Act any attempt to repeal the act would be likely to provoke a constitutional crisis.”