Human rights protection at risk after Brexit warns Committee
27 June 2019
The House of Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee has written to Lord Chancellor David Gauke warning him of the real risk that Brexit poses to human rights protections in the United Kingdom.
- Letter dated 26 June 2019 from EU Justice Sub-Committee Chair to Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (pdf 100KB)
- Inquiry: Rights after Brexit
- EU Justice Sub-Committee
The Committee has been taking evidence since March, as part of its wider work investigating the current likely impact that Brexit will have on the rights after Brexit. The Committee took evidence from lawyers, academics, representations of the devolved nations, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The Committee's concerns fall into four areas:
- Diminution of rights protections in the United Kingdom
- Risk of a fragmented approach to rights protections across the UK
- The position of the UK judiciary on the Court of Justice of the European Union
- The UK's future relationship, after Brexit, with the European Convention on Human Rights
Chair of the House of Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws said: “There is a very real risk that after Brexit the rights of UK citizens will be less protected than they are currently. We have taken significant evidence during this inquiry, and previously, and remain unconvinced by the Government's response.
"UK lawyers have been leading contributors to EU human rights law. So it's ironic that UK citizens post-Brexit will have diminished human rights protections, less access to remedies and face legal uncertainty. Worryingly, future ministers will also be able to change such rights without adequate Parliamentary scrutiny".