Abstract

'Once upon a time, the United Kingdom was proud to have promoted and helped to draft the European Convention on Human Rights. We thought that it was already the law here, but this was not always so. Also, it gave our people no rights against the State, so Parliament was always free to make laws which infringed those rights. The Human Rights Act was designed to solve both those problems, but in a way which preserved the sovereignty of Parliament. The courts have conscientiously tried to do what the Act required of them. So what has gone wrong? Why is the Act apparently so unpopular with politicians, the press and the public? Are they right?'