The Windsor Framework was adopted in 2023 in the wake of Brexit to regulate affairs in Northern Ireland. Until recently, it had been unclear what freestanding EU rights were conferred on individuals through the Framework. A recent judgment … [Read more...] about What Now For Human Rights Under the Windsor Framework?
In Wales a very different, values-led conversation on human rights has evolved over the last 15 years, one which exists in stark contrast to debates in England. Legislative initiatives such as the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) … [Read more...] about Is it Time for a Welsh Human Rights Act?
One of the core principles of international human rights law is universality. Universality means that human beings are endowed with equal human rights simply by virtue of being human, wherever they live and whoever they are, regardless of … [Read more...] about Human Rights: A New Front in the Battle Over Devolution?
David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, recently proposed changes to the criminal justice system to reduce the use of juries in criminal trials. The proposals have elicited strong condemnation from a range of different parties. They seem to … [Read more...] about The End of Trial by Jury in the United Kingdom?
Introduction Eric Barendt, in his 2009 article Freedom of Expression in the United Kingdom under the Human Rights Act 1998, begins with a stark observation: “English law has traditionally taken little or no notice of freedom of speech.” I … [Read more...] about A Very Short History of Freedom of Speech
The introduction of a national digital ID scheme wasn’t in the 2024 Labour Party manifesto. It now seems a significant omission. National ID schemes have a rather chequered history, and Labour preferred not to reignite the debate during the general … [Read more...] about Identity – The Crisis You Can’t See: Time for digital ID?
Introduction At half past noon on 26 April 2006, a chorus of MPs shouted "Resign"! Labour’s Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, was due to make a statement to the House of Commons. The papers were awash with condemnation of the Blair Government’s … [Read more...] about Foreign Criminal Deportation in Review: Rules, Rights & Laws
In March of this year, the then Conservative Government introduced a new definition of extremism, designed to revise the principles set out in 2011’s Prevent strategy. The current definition prohibits “ideology based on violence, hatred or … [Read more...] about It’s already time to revise the UK’s new extremism definition
In 1912, the shipyard of Harland and Wolff in East Belfast produced a ship that was state of the art, a marvel of engineering, “designed to be unsinkable”. As it traversed the iceberg-laden waters of the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage at high … [Read more...] about The Titanic Struggle over the Illegal Migration Act
On 17 January, the Cabinet Secretary to the Home Office sent a letter outlining the future direction of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill (‘the Bill’). In it, he confirmed that the proposed Guidance (‘the Guidance’) to be … [Read more...] about Expanding Ministerial Discretion by Eroding Human Rights: the Government’s Draft Guidance on Rule 39 Injunctions
Human rights lawyers across the UK rejoiced recently as Dominic Raab’s Bill of Rights Bill appeared to be consigned to the dustbin of history. At the same time, recent analysis from Alice Donald and Joelle Grogan revealed the UK’s … [Read more...] about Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Human Rights Act
Last Monday on BBC One, Panorama broadcast allegations that a Special Air Service (SAS) squadron operating in Afghanistan repeatedly killed detainees and unarmed men in suspicious circumstances from November 2010 to April 2011.[1] The grave … [Read more...] about Conflict and the constitution
