Author:Geoffrey Robertson
The government finds itself in the curious position of promising a British Bill of Rights without having any idea of its contents — other than that it should in some way be different to the much-maligned European Convention on Human Rights. As the latter was drafted by British lawyers and sets out basic rights that the UK acknowledges to be universal, the human rights lobby suspects that the “British” Bill is really some sort of plot to demolish our liberties, especially if “we” are poor or disadvantaged or were not born in Britain. But there would be educational advantages in a statement that recognisably reflects the constraints on government which people in this country have, over the centuries, struggled for and achieved, sometimes by fighting against each other (the Civil War) and sometimes against Europe (i.e. Hitler, Napoleon and the Pope). There are advantages too, in updating and improving the Convention, a wonder of its time (1953) but a time which has passed.