Times letters: Unrest over plan to ignore Human Rights Act
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Narrated by WRITE TO LETTERS@THETIMES.CO.UK
Sir, You report that some ministers want to disapply the European Convention on Human Rights in asylum cases (“Sunak faces cabinet row on new plan for Rwanda”, Nov 20). Before going down that route it is worth establishing precisely what would be needed to protect the government’s Rwanda policy from being found unlawful by the courts.
As last week’s Supreme Court judgment makes clear, the issue is not simply our adherence to the ECHR but wider international and domestic legislation, including legislation that prevents the facilitation of torture. By disapplying all these obligations we would be acting outside the norms of a civilised nation. One consequence would be that some British officials who travelled abroad would face the risk of arrest for years
