UK: Truss insists Bill of Rights would protect rights in a ‘better way’

Liz Truss (pictured) confirmed that the Conservativegovernment still plans to repeal the Human Rights Act but remain a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ms Truss told MPs on the committee that such a bill would “protect our rights in a better way”, without expanding on this.

“There are changes that could be made but that is really a matter that we need to develop in the proposals that we will be putting forward in due course,” she said.

Conservative MP Alex Chalk questioned the point of abolishing the HRA, to which Ms Truss replied: “We were members of the Convention long before the Human Rights Act. The Human Rights Act is a fairly recent phenomenon. What the British Bill of Rights will do is protect our rights but in a better way.

“That is fundamentally what we are saying: that there are big problems with the Human Rights Act that are nothing to do with the convention – problems that have only emerged since the Human Rights Act came in. We are still working on it and I don’t have details about the proposal.”

As regards incursions into the legal aid budget in England and Wales, she refused to say whether she would look at the impact of cuts, noting that the system was “generous” when compared with other jurisdictions.