The proposals says that the ECHR banned whole-life tariffs for prisoners, but they didn't(01 of10)
Open Image ModalDominic Grieve, the former attorney general, called it a "howler" based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Strasbourg ruling, and that UK sentencing laws had been found to be "totally compatible". Adam Wagner, human rights barrister from 1 Crown Office Row, called it a "major factual error". (credit:Fiona Hanson/PA Archive)
It's very unlikely the UK could be granted special status to have the Strasbourg court as a mere 'advisory' body(02 of10)
Open Image ModalIn practice, these proposals pretty much mean leaving the European Convention of Human Rights, lawyers say, leaving us in the company of Belarus and Kazakhstan. Russia, Azerbaijahn and Ukraine are just some of the countries that would have more watertight human rights protection than the UK. (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
If we want special treatment from the ECHR, then won't other countries want it too?(03 of10)
Open Image ModalThe proposals "limit the use of human rights laws to the most serious cases...ensuring UK courts strike out trivial cases."(04 of10)
Open Image ModalOne of the proposals actually means we are more tightly legally bound to the Strasbourg court than we are already(05 of10)
Open Image ModalThe document says "every judgement that UK law is incompatible with the Convention will be treated as advisory and we will introduce a new Parliamentary procedure to formally consider the judgement. It will only be binding in UK law if Parliament agrees that it should be enacted as such." Carl Gardner points out in his Head of Legal blog that "this proposal puts more human rights obligations on Parliament than it has under the Human Rights Act. There is currently no legal duty on Parliament to consider any Strasbourg judgment. The Conservatives plan would oblige it to for the very first time." (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Grayling has forgotten to mention how this would work under the Good Friday agreement with Northern Ireland or with Scottish devolution(06 of10)
Open Image ModalIt is a requirement under the Good Friday agreement that ultimately people in NI can take cases to the ECHR. Chris Grayling has just written a paper which makes no reference to this issue or how it can be solved, except saying 'We will work with the devolved administrations and legislatures as necessary to make sure there is an effective new settlement across the UK'. Westminster could change the law for both countries, but there's been no consultation and no reference to it in this paper, and it's likely Scotland would seek to devolve it. If Scotland or NI want to stay linked to the ECHR, then we could end up with a "patchwork" of different human rights laws across the United Kingdom. (credit:Dorling Kindersley via Getty Images)
British judges are now likely to find more UK legislation is incompatible with human rights, not fewer(07 of10)
Open Image ModalThe new proposals say the Tories will "prevent our laws from being effectively re-written through ‘interpretation’ of Strasborg case law."
"I don’t think this has been thought through," Gardner writes on Head of Legal. "If judges think old housing legislation discriminates against a gay tenant, they can rule that it is no longer to be read as permitting the discrimination.
"But if that option is barred, they will in case like that have no option but to declare the legislation incompatible with human rights in principle.
The result, surely, will be more headlines about judges condemning Parliament for breaching human rights, not fewer." (credit:Lewis Whyld/PA Archive)
The proposals mean we don't have to worry as much about sending people off to be tortured(08 of10)
Open Image ModalThe “real risk” test used to determine whether someone is at risk of torture on deportation will be "revised..in line with our commitment to prevent torture and in keeping with the approach taken by other developed nations”. "If there is evidence that an individual faces a real risk of torture on return, should the UK seriously be seeking shortcuts?" asks Angela Patrick is the Director of Human Rights Policy at JUSTICE. (credit:Cristian Baitg via Getty Images)
It would take an enormous amount of time, effort and consultation to end up with basically the same thing we have already(09 of10)
Open Image ModalNo one thinks we should scrap laws against, say, slavery, or free speech, or the right to protest. So the new "Bill of Rights" would be 99% a carbon copy of what we already have, only enforced by British judges, several legal commentators have pointed out. Unless we scrap human rights altogether. (credit:Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images)
The proposal doesn't even spell "judgment" in the correct legal way(10 of10)
Open Image ModalGardner points out that this means the proposal probably wasn't drafted by lawyers, at least in parts. (credit:JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images)