The Human Rights Act under Siege: The Vulnerability of Fundamental Rights Protection under the UK Constitution

This article examines three pieces of legislation passed in the dying days of the Conservative government’s tenure, the Illegal Migration Act 2023, the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 and the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. It presents three arguments. Firstly, that passing the legislation went against decades of practice. Normally when a negative statement of compatibility is issued under s.19 of the Human Rights Act, the violations giving rise to it are limited, identifiable and Parliament takes steps to address them. It is argued that the Illegal Migration and Safety of Rwanda Acts violated absolute, non-derogable rights and were subjected to inadequate scrutiny by Parliament. Secondly, it is argued that collectively this legislation weakened the Human Rights Act 1998 and basic elements of the rule of law by generating arbitrariness in how the law is applied and failing to ensure sufficient protections of fundamental rights and access to the courts. Finally, the article reflects on the significance of these Acts and what they reveal about the UK’s constitution. The article explores the safeguards against removing fundamental rights protections in other constitutional systems. It argues that that UK constitution lacks sufficient safeguards for fundamental rights and is uniquely vulnerable to having fundamental rights protections cast aside at great speed with very limited public consultation.