No appetite in Scotland for British Bill of Rights, says Commission

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has commented on today’s Queen’s Speech announcement about proposals for a British Bill of Rights.

Judith Robertson, Chair of the Commission, said:

“Today, the UK Government said again that it will bring forward proposals for a new British Bill of Rights. And yet again, the point of any such Bill remains thoroughly unclear. The Human Rights Act already does a perfectly good job of protecting the fifteen rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.

“There is no appetite in Scotland for regressive changes to our human rights laws. People and organisations in Scotland are far more concerned with questions of how to better fulfil all human rights in practice, in people’s everyday lives. Continued threats to the Human Rights Act by the UK Government must not distract from this important challenge.

“As the Scottish Parliament returns to business this week, the Commission looks forward to working with all parties to protect our human rights laws and to better guarantee people’s rights in practice.”

ENDS