Michael Zander QC on the Report of the Commission on a UK Bill of Rights
We are told that the government will be consulting on a proposed British Bill of Rights. It is not clear what that will involve but presumably it does not mean a repetition of the extensive consultation exercise undertaken for the coalition government.
Coalition Commission
The Commission on a UK Bill of Rights was established by the coalition government in March 2011. The members were eight QCs, chaired by a retired senior civil servant, Sir Leigh Lewis. The eight QCs (one was also a former EU Court of Justice judge) were people from a spectrum of different political backgrounds with different perspectives on the issues.
The terms of reference were “[to] investigate the creation of a UK Bill of Rights that incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in UK law, and protects and extend our liberties”. Adherence to the Convention therefore had to be treated as a given.
That
