Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the proposed Bill of Rights will take precedence over the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Government introduced the Bill of Rights on 22 June. The Bill of Rights repeals and replaces the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated into UK law the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. Under the Bill of Rights, UK citizens will continue to be able to have their Convention rights upheld in UK courts.

However, the Bill of Rights empowers UK courts to apply human rights in a UK context, affirming the primacy of the Supreme Court in the interpretation of rights. It reinforces the primacy of UK case law, clarifying there is no requirement to follow case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). It makes clear that the UK Supreme Court, not the ECtHR, is the ultimate judicial arbiter in deciding the proper interpretation of rights in the UK.