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28 May 2015 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7655 / Categories: Opinion , Human rights
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Who will be guiding Mr Gove regarding a British Bill of Rights asks Michael Zander QC

So scrapping the Human Rights Act is not after all to be the subject of a Bill in this session of Parliament. But according to the Queen’s Speech, proposals will be brought forward for a British Bill of Rights—and we are told that there is to be “consultation”. If the reason was calculation that a Bill would not win a Commons majority, the project may never emerge from the long grass. But it is possible that Michael Gove, the new Lord Chancellor, does mean business and genuinely wants to consult in order “to get it right”. 

The issue bristles with difficulties. He is himself a layman—the second non-lawyer Lord Chancellor. But he has two lawyer junior ministers, Lord Faulks and Mr Dominic Raab, both of whom are personally persuaded of the need for radical human rights reform. 

Faulks

Edward Faulks QC, aged 64, created a Conservative peer in 2010, is Minister of State for Civil

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