Thread by @WomaninHavana

Woke up early to read Raab’s Bill of Rights Bill, wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I started reading the dangerous tangle of incoherence, like some teenage anti-HRA wish list & then saw @ProfMarkElliott had written a blog. Read it. It’s brilliant.
publiclawforeveryone.com/2022/06/22/the…

One point that really struck me when I read this Bill was on international law.

We don’t seem to have a government that understands its obligations in international law at the moment - see NI Protocol, Rwanda, WTO scandals just from last week.

And now this Bill of Rights Bill.

However much Raab wants to constrain UK courts in their interpretation & application of the ECHR as a matter of domestic law, the UK is still bound by its treaty obligations as a matter of international law. That remains true so long as the UK remains a party to the Convention.

A serious point about democratic accountability & consultation on a Bill of this constitutional significance.

Govt embarked on not 1 but 2 recent HRA consultations. It ignored the detailed but inconvenient findings of the 1st & can have barely considered 2nd. See 🧵.

https://twitter.com/womaninhavana/status/1539358232992526336

Much more to say, no time just now. Will hope to write a considered piece on the dangers of such an ideologically driven piece of constitutional legislation soon.

But I hope Parliament - & importantly Tory MPs - will try to stop this ill-considered wrecking ball in its tracks.

Final point. Last week, Govt partly justified #NIProtocol Bill claiming to protect Good Friday Agreement.

This week, #BoRB Impact Assessment casually skims over potential consequences for GFA & devolution settlements of narrowing domestic ambit of ECHR. Incoming crisis alert.