Scotland’s Civil Society Network to Defend and Promote Human Rights

Update June 2023

The new Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk, has confirmed that the ‘Rights Removal Bill’ will be officially shelved. He stated that the UK Government will continue to “recalibrate our constitution” with respect to human rights, so further regressive changes may be on the horizon, but these will not come in the form of a new Human Rights Bill.
Click here to read an article in The Independent about the Secretary of State’s statement

Update May 2023

According to The Times newspaper, the ‘Rights Removal Bill’ will likely be revoked by the UK Government. The article suggests that a combination of Dominic Raab’s resignation from the role of Secretary of State for Justice, and the unworkable nature of the Bill, will lead to it being scrapped.
Click here to read the article

Update January 2023

The UK Parliament’s Joint Committee for Human Rights has published the results of its legislative scrutiny of the Rights Removal Bill. Their report urges the Government to scrap the Bill entirely, as it threatens the universality of human rights and jeopardises devolution agreements across the UK.
Click here to read the Committee’s report in full
Click here to read a summary of the Committee’s report
Click here to read a transcript of evidence given to the Committee by Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab MP

We still remain unsure as to whether the Bill will be re-introduced to Parliament.

Reports suggest that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering a proposal from Conservative Members of Parliament to leave the European Convention on Human Rights entirely.
Read more about this breaking news story in The Guardian
Read more about the proposal in this article by Joshua Rozenburg, from ‘A Lawyer Writes’

Update October 2022

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss, the election of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and the re-instatement of Dominic Raab MP as Secretary of State for Justice, civil society organisations remain concerned about threats to the Human Rights Act. We are currently unsure as to whether the Rights Removal Bill might be re-introduced to Parliament.
Read more about this story in this article from The Independent

Update September 2022

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and the election of Prime Minister Liz Truss, the Rights Removal Bill has been halted. Little is known about the new leadership’s plans for the Human Rights Act, but civil society organisations are celebrating the delay.

About the Bill

The UK Government had previously introduced a British Bill of Rights, which if passed, would replace the Human Rights Act. The new bill was dubbed the Rights Removal Bill by civil society, because of concerns that it will lead to rights regression if passed.

Read the UK Government’s statement about the #RightsRemovalBill here

UK Parliament Joint Committee for Human Rights Response

Scottish Government Response

Consortium Response to the Rights Removal Bill

Civil Society and SHRC Responses to the Rights Removal Bill

Consultation Responses to the Ministry of Justice on the proposed British Bill of Rights, March 2022

Blogs

The Convention

Reports and Briefings

Videos

Previous Human Rights Act Reform News

Independent Review of the Human Rights Act: Call for Evidence February 2021

Joint Committee for Human Rights Response to the Independent Review, March 2021

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