Issue 03
Rights & Legal Protections
In briefA pathway into research concerning constitutional protections, civic rights and government accountability.
01Today
Where things stand
- 01
Rights rest on ordinary statutes
The Human Rights Act 1998 brought the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. Like any Act, it can be amended or repealed by Parliament with a simple majority.
- 02
Equality law, not constitutional guarantees
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on grounds including disability, and the UK ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009. Neither is entrenched against future change.
- 03
Policing by consent
British policing has long been described as policing by consent, a principle traced to Sir Robert Peel and the founding of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. Oversight has been reorganised repeatedly; since 2012, elected Police and Crime Commissioners have replaced police authorities in most of England and Wales.
- 04
Remedies depend on Parliament
When a court finds a law incompatible with Convention rights, the law remains valid. Whether to change it is a decision for ministers and Parliament.
02The alternative
What an entrenched bill of rights changes
Most codified constitutions include a bill of rights that ordinary legislation cannot override. For example:
Germany’s Basic Law opens with human dignity and protects its core principles from amendment altogether.
Ireland’s Constitution sets out fundamental rights and can only be amended by referendum.
Courts can set aside laws that breach protected rights, giving individuals an enforceable remedy.
Changing a protected right requires the special amendment procedure, with the public involved.
03Position
TSP’s research in this area
TSP’s research programme includes structural discrimination against disabled citizens and the principle of policing by consent. The movement argues that the protections people rely on should belong to them in a constitution they have approved, not to whichever majority holds office.
Research on this issue
6 records- Parliamentary sovereigntyClosing Down the Circus: Why a 17th-Century Parliament is Destroying Our 21st-Century FuturePublished
- Constitutional designThe Architecture of Obsolescence: Why the United Kingdom Requires a Codified ConstitutionPublished
- Constitutional designThe Architecture of DiversionIn review
- Parliamentary sovereigntyElective DictatorshipDraft
- Policing by consentPolicing by consent and the tripartite systemDraft
- Disability and legal protectionsStructural discrimination against disabled citizensDraft
Would a constitutional bill of rights replace the Human Rights Act?
That would be a decision for the drafting process. Codified systems typically entrench a set of rights in the constitution itself, so they cannot be removed by ordinary legislation.
Can entrenched rights ever change?
Yes, through the constitution’s amendment procedure, which is deliberately harder than passing an ordinary law and often requires a referendum.