European Convention Quotes

The Human Rights Act is not a terrorists' charter. It enables ordinary citizens to seek redress when the government breaches fundamental freedoms enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights such as the right to a fair trial, the right to life and free expression.

If we were to allow the Chris Grayling and his cronies to tear up the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights from which it is derived, we would set back the cause of victims' rights by decades.

We have seen too many arbitrary Strasbourg diktats based on the whims of European judges - from prisoner voting to blocking deportation of Abu Qatada - rather than a sober reading of the sensible list of core freedoms in the European Convention itself.

To draft a bill of rights that simply replicates the European convention on human rights gives the game away; namely that the Human Rights Act does, in fact, offer appropriate protection to all of our citizens according to universally accepted standards.

It was in that uncertain world that the European Convention on Human Rights was shaped. Written by Conservatives, it set out the principles which should lie behind a modern democratic state, where human rights were respected.

When Britain signed up to the European Convention and its later protocols, the words 'universal suffrage' were deleted from the 'right to vote' article.

We are involved in a constitution-building process of historic importance. The Convention should mark a new stage in European integration.

Contrary to the myth that the U.K. respects decisions of the Strasbourg court but many other adherent states do not, the convention and Strasbourg court judgements have proved a highly effective tool in protecting and developing human rights in countries with no tradition of the rule of law.