Tory claims over Human Rights Act rubbished
Conservatives criticised by Jack Straw for wrongly claiming Human Rights Act prevents naming of wanted criminals
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By Adam Leveridge. |  |
Wednesday, 07, Oct 2009 11:40
By Matthew Champion.
Claims at the Conservative party conference that the Human Rights Act prevented the naming of wanted criminals were exposed as false today.
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve attempted to justify a planned scrapping of the Act, adopted by New Labour in 1998, in order to publish the details of a suspected or known offender.
But justice secretary Jack Straw pointed out that police regularly name wanted criminals, while the details of convicted offenders are a matter of public record.
"Nothing in the Human Rights Act prevents publishing the details of an offender if he or she presents a danger to the public," Mr Straw said.
"In fact, the Act explicitly allows public authorities to interfere with an individual's right to privacy in the interests of public safety or for the prevention or detection of crime."
Tory leader David Cameron has committed to repealing the Human Rights Act if he becomes prime minister, replacing it with a British bill of rights.
But critics have pointed out it would restrict the flexibility of UK courts, not entirely counteract the influence of the European convention on human rights, and force Britons to take their cases to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.
Mr Grieve's speech to the Tory conference in Manchester today called for an end to the "automatic privacy of criminals".
He said Labour had prioritised the privacy of convicted criminals and dangerous fugitives over public protection.
"A Conservative government will free the police, probation and prison services to name offenders where necessary in order to protect the public and prevent crime," he said.