Policy Exchange work on Human Rights highlighted in Lords debate

Policy Exchange’s work on human rights was hailed as “helpful examples of best practice” in a House of Lords debate on human rights post-Brexit.

Lord Alton of Liverpool, formerly a Liberal Democrat MP and now a crossbench Peer, said:

What the Government must make clear is that, in or out of the European Union, they have no intention of emasculating our obligations to uphold those fundamental rights.

The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights is a good starting point but it is not the perfect paradigm. Commonwealth jurisdictions such as Australia and New Zealand protect rights at least as well as some European Union member states, and in some cases even better. The research of Professor John Finnis, Richard Ekins, Graham Gee and others in various papers published by Policy Exchange set out some helpful examples of best practice.

The research cited was published as part of Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project, which is focused on the the proper scope of judicial power within the constitution.

Lord Alton’s comments came on the same day as publication of our major new study Human Rights and Political Wrongs: A new approach to Human Rights law by Sir Noel Malcolm.

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