Tories back EU fundamental rights charter to appease rebels

UK ministers have been forced to back plans to preserve EU human rights measures in domestic law after Conservative MPs threatened to rebel over the issue.

The government faced a possible defeat over amendments aimed at maintaining the scope of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights in another debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve MP tabled a number of amendments and was believed to have had the support of enough rebels to defeat the government.

Relenting, Solicitor General Robert Buckland said the government would work with Mr Grieve to determine how charter rights could be retained after Brexit and promised that the government would introduce an amendment to this effect at a later stage of the bill’s progress through Parliament.

Mr Grieve said he was sufficiently reassured by this and that he would not call for a vote on his changes.

The government also said it would publish a review of the consequences of removing the charter from UK law by 5 December.

Mr Grieve remarked that the government should respect the advances in human rights over recent decades.

“On the whole, western democracies have tended in that time to develop the idea of rights,” he said.

“I know that for some members that appears to be anathema – it makes them choke over the cornflakes – but it is a development that I have always welcomed and that, it seems to me, has delivered substantial benefits for all members of our society, particularly the most vulnerable.”

He added: “If we do not seek to act on it, the idea of a modern Conservative Party starts to fray at the edges, and I do not wish my party to gain a reputation for ignoring these key issues.”