Dominic Raab: I’ll overhaul the Human Rights Act / Alliance with 'sympathetic' nations against anti-UK France

Dominic Raab: I’ll overhaul the Human Rights Act to stop Strasbourg dictating to us

The Justice Secretary says he is devising a way to allow the Government to introduce legislation to 'correct' court judgments

Source - Sunday Telegraph 17/10/21

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British soldiers and institutions such as the police and health service should not be "dictated to" by judges in Strasbourg, Dominic Raab said, as he unveiled details of a planned overhaul of the Human Rights Act.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary suggested that the European Court of Human Rights was imposing too many "obligations on the state" rather than simply defending individuals from "undue interference". He also warned that foreign criminals' use of the Act's "right to family life" remained a "serious issue" that he intended to address, with "somewhere between 100 and 200 cases a year whereby foreign national offenders are frustrating deportation orders."

Mr Raab set out for the first time details of the areas where he wants to overhaul the current human rights regime, having announced an "overhaul" of the Human Rights Act at the Conservatives' annual conference.

He separately warned that judicial reviews, under which individuals can challenge government decisions, were being used to "harpoon" major infrastructure projects, as he set out planned changes to the current system.

Asked about his plans to reform the Human Rights Act, Mr Raab revealed that he is devising a "mechanism" to allow the Government to introduce ad hoc legislation to "correct" court judgments that ministers believe are "incorrect".

"We want the Supreme Court to have a last word on interpreting the laws of the land, not the Strasbourg court ... We also want to protect and preserve the prerogatives of Parliament from being whittled away by judicial legislation, abroad or indeed at home."

Mr Raab said it was "wrong" that judges in Strasbourg ruled on matters relating to British soldiers fighting overseas and revealed that he was examining how to curtail the court's influence in the UK. His intervention comes after senior representatives of the Armed Forces told a government review that British troops were being put “in harm’s way” due to a fear of facing legal action under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Raab said: "If you read the negotiating history to the European Convention, it was never supposed to have extraterritorial effect ... I think that's wrong, that any court is effectively through judicial legislation, creating new law rather than just applying it. So I think we will want to have a look at that."

 of the European Court in Strasburg to be dictating things to, whether it's the NHS, whether it's our welfare provision, or whether it's our police forces," Mr Raab says. Those public services should be governed by "elected lawmakers" rather than "judicial legislation". Equally, he agrees with senior military figures who are concerned about rulings relating to British soldiers fighting overseas.

Mr Raab also wants "the Supreme Court to have a last word on interpreting the laws of the land, not the Strasbourg court [the European Court of Human Rights]. Just as [now we have] left the EU, we don't want the Luxembourg court [the European Court of Justice] overriding our judges."

Four PMs summit: Boris to build alliance with 'sympathetic' nations against anti-UK France

Source Daily Express

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BORIS Johnson is understood to be planning to hold a summit with the four Prime Ministers from the Eastern European bloc in the EU early next year in a move that could further inflame tensions with the EU.

The move comes as sources in the Foreign Office have told the Sunday Express that the UK is building up alliances with more sympathetic countries in the EU amid growing hostility from France. A strong relationship with the Visegrad 4 - Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - could see support from the UK for Polexit and the other three countries' efforts to assert their sovereignty against the EU. A senior source close to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss joked: “Perhaps we should set up an advisory unit on leaving the EU.”

The news has also emerged as talks between Lord Frost and the EU are set to continue next week on changing the controversial Northern Ireland protocol.

Brussels has offered significant concessions in the face of threats from the UK to trigger Article 16 and end the protocol including allowing sausages, food and medicines to travel freely to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

But further changes are needed including on the EU’s demand that its own European Court of Justice is the final arbiter in any disputes.

The tense negotiations are set against a background of growing hostility from France and the EU towards Britain with concerns that they are trying to “punish Britain for Brexit” and that French President Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign next year is fuelling an anti-British stance from his government.

A source close to Ms Truss noted that she had still not spoken to the French foreign minister by the time of the Tory conference earlier month since she was appointed to the role in September.

It is claimed Ms Truss believes that “the EU is basically France” in the way Macron is able to dictate the bloc’s policy as Germany’s influence has reduced following the departure of Angela Merkel. 

The EU had complained about her conference speech for “not naming them” or even putting them down as a priority, but Ms Truss is said to be “fairly relaxed about what they think.”.

The source said: “She is talking a lot to the Baltics [Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia] and Visegrad 4. They seem to be far more receptive and friendly. We need to build up our allegiances.”

A diplomatic source from a Visegrad country also emphasised that they are keen to be able to hold talks with Mr Johnson in a year where one of their group, the Czech Republic, holds the EU presidency and see Britain as “a valued ally”. 

It is understood that they are pushing for the meeting to be held before the Hungarian elections which are expected in April which could give the Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the first EU leader to demand that the Brexit result was respected, a boost.

Following the row over the Polish constitutional court defying Brussels by ruling domestic law trumps EU law, other countries in the Visegrad 4 and elsewhere in the EU are also preparing to push the boundaries.

The crisis has led to speculation that Poland could end up leaving the EU while others want to end Brussels primacy over their domestic laws.

The diplomatic source noted: “We are waiting for the ruling in Austria which has a similar case and that could be very significant.”

The source also mocked claims by EU leaders that the UK’s problems with supply chains and lorry drivers are because of Brexit.

“I was in Brussels last week and they have empty supermarket shelves there too. This is not Brexit, it is an international problem caused by covid.”