Yesterday’s Queen’s Speech was conspicuous for its lack of any mention of the Human Rights Act.
It was expected that the reform (or scrapping) of the Human Rights Act would occur in this session of Parliament, but David Cameron has now decided to push back the plans until after a consultation period.
This is likely down to the raft of criticism the plans have received from lawyers and judges, including some senior figures from within his own party. Former Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, has long been one of the fiercest critics of Cameron’s plan to scrap the HRA.
Another reason the plan has been put on the back-burner is due to the confusion over the specifics of the Government’s planned ‘Bill of Rights’ to replace the Human Rights Act. It hasn’t been clear which aspects of the HRA they want to change. Any decisions are now likely pushed back until after the consultation.
Despite David Cameron’s plans for the HRA screeching to a halt, his plans for an EU referendum now have support and are going ahead on schedule.
In recent weeks Cameron faced set backs with the French President and German Chancellor saying that while they are open to minor reforms they won’t allow any major renegotiation of European Union treaties.
There is appetite for minor reforms across the EU, but different countries in Europe have very different ideas of the type of reforms they want to see. The European Union fundamentals, including free movement of labour, still appear to be sacrosanct.
David Cameron will have his work cut out to convince other EU leaders that the reforms he wants are in the best interest of the EU as a whole, and to convince the Eurosceptics at home that they are in the best interests of the UK.