The Press Association is reporting that the Conservative leader has repeated his call for the Human Rights Act to be scrapped and replaced with a British Bill of Rights. Interviewed by BBC radio in the West Midlands he accused Labour of being "blind" to the HRA’s failings. Speaking after yesterday’s news that the HRA would prevent Learco Chindamo, the killer of headmaster Philip Lawrence, from being deported, Mr Cameron said:
"The fact that the Human Rights Act means he cannot be deported flies in the face of common sense. It is a shining example of what is going wrong in our country. He is someone who has been found guilty of murder and should be deported back to his country… what about the rights of Mrs Lawrence or the victim?"
The Government has decided to appeal against the Chindamo verdict.
Open Europe Director Neil O’Brien has warned that EU plans for harmonisation of justice will only increase the extent of public powerlessness over justice issues:
“This ruling is the thin end of a very long wedge. Harmonisation of justice and home affairs laws will throw up more and more cases in which politicians are powerless to act in cases where most of the public expect them to. The Government tend to dismiss concerns about harmonisation of justice and home affairs law as ‘scaremongering’. But the reality is that there really is a tension between the development of EU criminal law and the public’s desire for accountability in this area. While majority voting and harmonisation might be appropriate for product standards in the single market, they are inappropriate in home affairs and criminal law. The Government appears to be in denial about what they have signed up to. The next phase of harmonisation under the constitutional treaty would take justice and policing further out of the control of ordinary voters. It would mean more power for EU judges who cannot be held accountable to anyone.”