19 December 2012..was a complete waste of time. It was basically just a way for the LimpDems to kick the serious issue of the disgraceful Human Rights Act into the 'long grass'. This commission that wasted £700,000 was not even allowed to include the European Convention in its deliberations.
But there is one good thing that comes our of this.
This is an issue that could be a vote winner for the Conservatives as part of an 'unfinished business' manifesto. A stick to beat the LimpDems and Labour with. Labour because they brought about this appalling Act in the first place and the LimpDems for blocking reform. But to do this Cameron will need to adopt a clear policy that frees us from the Convention and gets rid of the HRA.
Chris Grayling (above) the Justice Secretary should lead on the policy development, he is 'sound' on the matter and is the right person take charge. Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, is a liability though and will need to be sacked from that post to get progress on this.
In such circumstances, something had to give. Tory yearnings to abandon the European convention – and, in some cases, scrap human rights laws too – were simply incompatible with the commission's terms of reference and with the evolving status of international human rights law and treaty. The result, as Tuesday's report makes clear, is that the wheels have come off the British bill of rights project.
The commission has splintered along many different lines. But the big picture, underscored by the minority report by Helena Kennedy and Philippe Sands, is this. The British bill of rights craved by the anti-European Tory right is an English nationalistic fantasy. It cannot exist in the constitutional framework of the existing UK without destroying other established principles. It would cut the UK adrift from internationally justiciable human rights on the one hand, as three commission members openly advocate; and it would force a confrontation with the devolution settlement in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the other..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/18/constitutional-reform-britains-bill-wrongs
It looks as if the Conservatives will have to follow Labour and become the New-Conservatives. Ditching any and all association with 'one nation' along the way...oh wait a minute, might it not be best just to vote UKIP and swap Dave for Nigel?