Law and religion round-up – 15th May

The Queen’s Speech and human rights

The Queen’s Speech included various announcements of potential interest to law and religion specialists, the most important of which was probably the proposed new Bill of Rights that will reform the Human Rights Act 2010. Russell Sandberg comments that though the exact nature of the reform remains to be seen, responses to the recent consultation largely rejected the need for any of the reforms that it proposed. He suggests that “There is a real risk that reform may weaken rather than strengthen rights. And that it could have a significant effect on terms of freedom of religion or belief”.

The Government’s justification for the Bill (will it be called the Bill of Rights Bill?) is that it will “ensure [that] our human rights framework meets the needs of the society it serves and commands public confidence” and will “end the abuse of the human rights framework and restore some common sense to our justice system”.

Hmm. Continue reading