An ingenious failure? The Human Rights Act 1998 and parliamentary sovereignty

Abstract

In his introduction to the Human Rights Bill's second reading in the House of Commons, the then Home Secretary Jack Straw was unequivocal about the Government's continued commitment to parliamentary sovereignty. This chapter explores the debate that has developed around the Human Rights Act's (HRA's) relationship with the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. After outlining the principal grounds of disagreement, it suggests that these competing claims are much less concerned with the HRA's relationship to parliamentary sovereignty than it might first appear. While arguments are often framed as if parliamentary sovereignty is their central focus, in reality there is far less disagreement about the Act's drafting, how it has been applied, and how it interacts with this constitutional principle than might be thought. Instead, the primary source of disagreement might be better characterised as the nature and requirements of the principle itself. The extraction of the UK from the European Union may serve to distract the current government for the foreseeable future.