Political View: You can't cherry pick from a list of human rights

This proposal has been described by one of its own MPs as “... a dead end – morally, politically and electorally”.

Green MP Adrian Ramsay told BBC Politics Live that the European Convention on Human Rights offered vital protections to everyone “whether it’s our rights to fair trials, our right to privacy, whether it’s protecting child victims of trafficking, or protecting people who have been victims of domestic violence... The idea you can cherry pick from a list of human rights I don’t think is realistic.”

The 47 member states of the Council of Europe which are signed up to the ECHR are legally committed to protect the basic rights and freedoms of people and to abide by certain standards of behaviour. The treaty is designed to protect the rule of law and promote democracy across the continent and was drawn up at the end of the second world war by European leaders including Winston Churchill.

Some argue that a national bill of rights would eradicate the sections of the ECHR which they believe handicap the country while preserving those they agree with. However, is it safe to allow a British government decide which rights the population should be entitled to and which they should forgo?

Successive governments have driven a coach & horses through our entitlement to protest peacefully. First in 2022 the Conservative imposed the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Act which redefined the definition of serious disruption. The Public Order Act of 2023 seemed to be geared towards curbing environmental protests. Now the Labour government has banned Palestine Action, meaning peaceful protesters are being arrested as terrorists simply for holding up cardboard signs.

Meanwhile, a member of the public who said we should set fire to hotels which house asylum seekers, has been painted as a victim by many right wing figures after pleading guilty to charges & being jailed.

Freedom of speech is a precious thing & should never be compromised or eroded. However, words can have consequences & it's concerning that representatives from some of our main political parties appear to think that words like these can be used with impunity.

Do we want a system whereby the rights of people to say what they want when they want trump the right of people to live safely and without threat?

The Green party will defend the Human Rights Act, the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights and continued direct access to Convention rights in the domestic courts. We would scrap the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act, the Public Order Act and other legislation that erodes the right to protest and free expression.

The Peterborough Green party would like to wish Peterborough Telegraph readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.