And in the week when Lord Frost resigned as Minister of State at the Cabinet Office…

…we provided some light relief with Professor Russell Sandberg’s Christmas: a subversive legal history and are currently putting the finishing touches to our Boxing Day Quiz 2021.

Human rights consultation

The Ministry of Justice has published a consultation entitled Human Rights Act Reform: A Modern Bill Of Rights: A consultation to reform the Human Rights Act 1998. It sets out and seeks views on the Government’s proposals to revise and replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a Bill of Rights, in fulfilment of its 2019 manifesto pledge to ‘[…] update the Human Rights Act and administrative law to ensure there is a proper balance between the rights of individuals, our vital national security and effective government.’ The Government also published The Independent Human Rights Act Review, the conclusions of the review panel chaired by Sir Peter Gross.

The consultation ends on 8 March 2022. You can respond either by filling in the online response form or via post or e-mail to: Human Rights Team, Ministry of Justice, International, Rights and Constitutional Policy Directorate, 102 Petty France, London SW1H. E-mail: HRAreform@justice.gov.uk.

For the Secretary of State’s current thinking, see his article in The Times: New bill of rights will deliver a healthy dose of common sense. Or maybe it might just deliver a lot more adverse judgments at Strasbourg…

COVID-19 inquiries

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of the Rt hon Baroness Hallett DBE as Chair of the forthcoming public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Continue reading →