No case for the Bill of Rights Bill

25 January 2023

R&RA welcomes the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR) damning report on the Bill of Rights Bill. The JCHR is right to declare that ‘there is no case for this Bill’, and we wholeheartedly agree with their recommendation that the Government should not proceed with the Bill. 

In August 2022 we submitted evidence as part of the JCHRs legislative scrutiny of the Bill, and it is positive to see that this evidence has informed the report. We warned that the repeal of section 3 of the Human Rights Act would undermine the rights of people in care, and that the Bill of Rights Bill would disempower health and care practitioners as well as people using care services. We are pleased that the JCHR has highlighted these points and others, as the Bill of Rights Bill showed little concern for the impact on care rights. 

The JCHRs report emphasises that the Bill faces ‘overwhelming’ opposition and has ‘inadequate’ justification. They are right to conclude that: 

‘The government should not proceed with this bill: it weakens rights protections, it undermines the universality of rights, it shows disregard for our international legal obligations, it creates legal uncertainty and hinders effective enforcement, it will lead to an increased caseload in Strasbourg and will damage our international reputation as guardians of human rights.’

R&RA is part of a broad coalition of 123 organisations that are united in our view that the Bill of Rights Bill must be withdrawn entirely. We know from our work supporting older people and their families how vital the protections of the Human Rights Act have been, and we will continue to oppose the Bill if it proceeds through Parliament. 

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