The Human Rights Act

So, parliament's back and the dy-to-day workings of the coalition will come under scrutiny. First point of tension is looking like being the Human Rights Act (HRA). This is the UK legislation introduced by Labour in 1998 in order to fulfil the UK's commitment to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). It became one of the great divides of the political spectrum, with many on the right blaming it for all the ills of society and many on the left celebrating the protections it brought. The Conservatives pledged in their manifesto to replace it with a UK Bill of Rights, the Lib-Dems are supporters of the act.

Why is it in the news today? Yesterday, the special immigration court decided upon appeal that it would be unlawful (against the HRA) to deport two alleged Al-Qaeda suspects back to Pakistan, because there was good evidence that they would face torture and death there. This has led to more calls for the act to be scrapped as it puts our national security at risk. How exactly? I find the argument quite hard to follow. For me the case shows the act working to do what it should. In this country we rightly deplore the use of torture and the death penalty. They are things that have no place in a civilised society. How then can we support or turn a blind eye to their use in other parts of the world by sending people abroad to be treated in this way. We can't and the court having judged that there was enough evidence for it to be reasonable to say that this would happen for these two men has made the right decision. Does this really threaten our national security - not greatly, in my opinion - the police caught these men, if there is enough evidence let them stand trial here for any alleged crimes they have committed.

Interestingly, even the tories aren't united in opposition to the Human Rights Act. Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has previously criticised Mr Cameron's opposition to the act (which raises an interesting question about whether the Lib-Dems pushed for his slightly surprising appointment to this position), whilst former shadow justice secretary and new Attorney General Dominic Grieve opposes withdrawal from the ECHR. The decision to hold a review to look at these issues may well be a fudge to preserve coalition unity, but personally I hope that this is one area where the Lib Dems hold firm and don't compromise.