Expert says new Bill of Rights could be ‘problematic’ for Scotland
The expert said the UK government’s proposals for a new bill of rights were “problematic”.
Barbara Bolton, head of legal and policy at the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said replacing existing human rights law would create “all the confusion and uncertainty”.
The plan to introduce the Bill of Rights was reaffirmed on Tuesday in the Queen’s Speech, following the 2019 Conservative Party statement pledging human rights reform.
The government said the changes would enhance “freedom of expression” and strike the “right balance” between individual rights and effective politics.
But Ms Bolton, testifying before the Joint Human Rights Commission in Westminster on Wednesday, warned that this could create problems for both citizens and the UK’s decentralization agreement.
Ms Bolton told the committee that “significant progress” had been made since the inception of human rights law in Scotland.
She noted that “there is a lot to do”, but added that she “did not recognize the very negative image” of the work in the consultation document.
