In a bold statement, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced the Conservative’s plans to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and repeal the Human Rights Act after the next election.
The Conservatives have toyed with this idea before but it now appears as though a clear plan is in place to fill any holes left by the repeal of the Human Rights Act. The principle reason behind this Conservative policy is to deal with the UK’s immigration problem and cut down on the amount of successful appeals against deportation from illegal migrants and foreign criminals. The number of grounds for appeal are to be significantly limited and a fresh appeal will not necessarily halt deportation under new immigration rules.
A new immigration bill is set to be published next month. One of the key features of the bill will be a reduction in the scope and efficacy of the article 8 right to private and family life to restrict deportation. Presumably this particular right will still exist under the new immigration bill but will be limited in its application compared with its current use under the ECHR and Human Rights Act.
The withdrawal from the ECHR and repeal of the Human Rights Act will not just have implications for immigration law in the UK. Other fundamental rights are protected by the ECHR and Human Rights Act are privacy and freedom of expression. The UK has no primary privacy legislation and the developing tort of privacy has only been advanced by the provisions of the ECHR and the Human Rights Act. With the removal of this protection it is not clear how any future privacy cases will be decided.
It is therefore not quite as simple as just drafting a new immigration bill to deal with the hole left by the departure if the ECHR and Human Rights Act. It is possible that a privacy bill will be required and also legislation dealing with how this will be balanced with the principle of freedom of expression. Whether this has been considered by the Conservatives is unclear but some thought needs to be given to the wider implications and not just the effect on the UK’s immigration law.
