Plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a “British Bill of Rights” are to go ahead according to Justice Secretary Liz Truss.

Ms Truss insisted it will be introduced amid speculation Theresa May’s Conservative government had “junked” the plans.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are committed to that. It is a manifesto pledge. We are looking very closely at the details but we have a manifesto pledge to deliver that.”

Earlier this month, a source told The Times that Ms May had instructed Ms Truss to re-examine plans to repeal the HRA, championed by her predecessor, Michael Gove, and replace it with legislation meant to “restore common sense in the application of human rights in the UK”.

The source said: “The bill is ready but my hunch is that she might junk it. I think the priority for the justice department will be prison reform and she won’t want another fight with the Scottish Government. I just don’t think the will is there to drive it through.”

The Human Rights Consortium - a broad alliance of civil society organisations from across all communities, sectors and areas of Northern Ireland - said it was concerned by the news.

A spokesperson for the Consortium told Irish Legal News: “The Human Rights Consortium is very concerned that Liz Truss seems determined to continue to threaten the Human Rights Act.

“The Human Rights Act is foundational to the constitutional settlement in Northern Ireland. It brings the European Convention on Human Rights into local law and was one of the core human rights frameworks and confidence building measures of the peace settlement.

“We are very concerned that the Secretary of State for Justice is threatening to proceed with a British Bill of Rights, given the Prime Minister’s own statement that ‘there is no appetite’ within the parliamentary party to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, as they are two sides of the same coin.”