Warning on Euro rights ’panic’
By Jon Hibbs, Political Correspondent
JACK STRAW told private schools, hospitals and security companies yesterday not to panic over the introduction of new laws guaranteeing human rights, even though ministers privately are braced for a flood of litigation in the British courts.
The Home Secretary sought to reassure voluntary organisations, regulatory bodies and private companies with public functions that they should regard the Human Rights Act, which comes into force in October, as an opportunity, not a threat. He told a conference organised by the Institute of Public Policy Research that the legislation represented “standing up for the best British values of fairness, respect for human dignity and inclusiveness”.
Mr Straw said: “There is no need to get panicked about this. We are talking about pretty basic civil and political rights - the right to life, liberty, freedom of expression, religion and belief, privacy of home life, discrimination in the enjoyment of rights and so on.” His comments came as the IPPR published research showing that private sector organisations were slipping behind in preparation for the Act, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, laying them open to legal challenges.
Behind the scenes in Whitehall, ministers have been working overtime to prepare for the change to ensure the courts do not get bogged down with test cases. A member of the task force that has been combing through the whole range of public policy to identify where problems are likely to occur said: “It’s a litigants’ charter. The lawyers will make a fortune.”
Ministers and officials from each government department have been summoned before the task force, led by Mike O’Brien, the Home Office minister, to assess their readiness for the legislation, which comes into effect in England and Wales on Oct 2. However, it will also apply to any body that has a function as a public authority, even if outside the machinery of central or local government.
Specific examples cited by Mr Straw were charities, such as the NSPCC, that bring prosecutions, regulators looking after public services independently of government, nursing homes, housing associations and firms, such as Group 4 Securitas, which run private prisons. Hospitals and schools will also have to ensure that they comply with the provisions, which could, for example, allow parents to challenge the expulsion of a pupil or patients to complain about shortcoming in their care.
The legislation will make it easier to bring cases before the domestic courts rather than going to Strasbourg. Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, is in the process of appointing eight extra High Court judges to deal with the expected deluge. Ministers are also looking for ways of fast-tracking some of the first test cases on points of principle to establish legal precedents that could slow the flow of litigation.
The Government’s caution has been prompted by the experience of the courts in Scotland, where the legal system has been thrown into disarray by a series of controversial judicial rulings since the Act came into force as a consequence of the devolution settlement last June.
Lord Irvine is considering the implications for the English legal system of a Scottish judgment that caused temporary sheriffs to be suspended on the grounds that the use of short-term appointments that could be revoked by the state would undermine the independence of the judiciary.
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