Reflections on a UK Bill of Rights

The UK Government recently introduced and then deferred a Bill of Rights Bill. The Bill would have repealed the Human Rights Act 1998, the UK’s flagship human rights legislation domesticating protections for rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It also sought to introduce new standards for judges to apply in adjudicating violations of ECHR rights in the UK, which the UK Government claims will enhance ‘democratic oversight’ of rights protections in the UK. These included requiring judges to take into account factors such as whether Convention rights secured strike an appropriate balance ‘as between different policy aims’, and whether particular interpretations of ECHR rights will ‘have an impact on the ability of the public authority or of any other public authority to perform its functions’.

The event will be a panel discussion with leading experts on UK human rights law, reflecting on the Bill of Rights Bill and the future of human rights protection in the UK. This will include exploring the requirements of any future Bill for the UK’s compliance with international human rights law, and what may be learnt from the political and legal processes surrounding a bill of rights so far.

Speakers:

Professor Tom Hickman QC

Professor Tom Hickman QC is a Professor of Public Law at University College London and barrister at Blackstone Chambers.

Dominic Grieve QC

Dominic Grieve QC served as Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014 and is a barrister at Temple Garden Chambers.

Jun Pang

Jun Pang is a Policy and Campaigns Officer at Liberty. She leads Liberty’s campaign to defend the Human Rights Act and our wider human rights frameworks, and helps to convene a coalition of hundreds of civil society groups to build capacity and engage in joint and coordinated campaigning. She also leads Liberty's work on protecting the right to protest, privacy, and free expression.

Professor Gavin Phillipson

Gavin Phillipson has held a Chair in Law since January 2007, now at University of Bristol and is currently visiting fellow at the Bonavero Institute. He has published widely in in top law journals in the UK, Australia, Canada and the US, published three books, and his work has been cited by appellate courts in the UK, Canada and New Zealand and used in argument before the European Court of Human Rights.

Chair: Daniella Lock

Daniella Lock is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. Her research focuses on constraints of executive power, in particular national security-related power, and human rights.