Should the UK replace human rights treaties with its own bill of rights?
The UK helped write the European Convention on Human Rights and brought it into domestic law through the Human Rights Act 1998, alongside UN treaties including the Refugee Convention and the Convention Against Torture. A Bill of Rights Bill intended to replace the Human Rights Act was introduced in 2022 and dropped in 2023 without becoming law. Replacing the treaties outright would go further: it would mean leaving the Council of Europe, ending the right to take a case to the Strasbourg court, and reopening the Good Friday Agreement, which requires the Convention to be part of Northern Ireland law. Reform UK backs withdrawal and senior Conservatives have argued for it, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats say the existing framework should stay.
2 Opinions
The idea of leaving the ECHR has, IMO, being pushed by those who want to remove some of our rights in the UK. We were very involved with starting the ECHR, it's important we stay with it, to keep all of our human rights.
If we tear up international treaties for an untested domestic bill, our basic rights become a political football that any government can water down when convenient. British lawyers literally helped draft the ECHR after WWII based on our own values... So it's just unnecessary and more bureaucracy.