ABSTRACT
The Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 has at the time of writing been in force for over fifteen years (it came into force in 2000), so it is possible to make an interim but fairly tentative assessment as to its efficacy in protecting human rights and freedoms in the UK. It affords further effect to a number of the rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights. It remains a controversial piece of legislation; for example, in 2006 parts of the media blamed it for weakening the UK in its ‘war’ against terrorism, and for the early release of criminals. The criticism was misleading, since even if the HRA was repealed, the UK would remain bound at international level to abide by the European Convention on Human Rights. The Conservative Party has stated that its policy is to repeal the Act and to replace it with a ‘modern British Bill of Rights’, and indeed, in March 2011 it established the Commission on a Bill of Rights to specifically look into this matter.
