Lady Hale delivers webinar on a British Bill of Rights

Lady Hale recently delivered a webinar on whether the UK needs a British Bill of Rights, addressing the ongoing debate about the balance between national sovereignty and international human rights protections.

The webinar was hosted by Legal Services Agency and chaired by Usman Tariq K.C.

Lady Hale began by setting out a brief history of the genesis of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its incorporation into UK law through the Human Rights Act.

The retired judge then discussed previous UK governments’ attempts to replace the ECHR with a British Bill of Rights, and what this would mean for human rights protections in the UK.

Lady Hale also touched on later governmental attempts to curtail the application of human rights law through the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024.

The webinar concluded with a question-and-answer session which included interesting discussion about the differences between civil and political rights, and social and economic rights.

Social and economic rights have been a topic of much discussion due to the Scottish Government’s Human Rights Bill, which proposes to introduce economic, social, and cultural rights into Scots law through the incorporation of relevant international treaties that have been ratified by the UK.

While the Scottish Government have decided not to introduce the Bill in the current parliamentary session, the proposal of the Human Rights Bill is a significant milestone towards progressive human rights protection in Scotland.

To access a full recording of the webinar, please click here.