Keith Ewing, Bonfire of the Liberties: New Labour, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law

Abstract

The principal aim of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) was to incorporate the rights set out by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 (‘the Convention’). The HRA was conceived of at a time of relative peace and stability within the United Kingdom (UK). The issue of violence and terrorism in Northern Ireland, that dogged the previous Conservative Governments throughout their tenure, shifted from a military situation towards a more peaceful political resolution, culminating in devolution and the Good Friday Agreement, also signed in 1998. However, the HRA came into force 11 months prior to the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. This brought into being the so-called ‘War on Terror’, involving extensive domestic anti-terrorism powers being claimed by Governments across the world, as well as military interventions into Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Iraq. It is within this context of heightened military tensions both domestically and abroad that Professor Ewing has written this book, examining the discordance between the rhetoric of a ‘culture of liberty’ employed by the previous Labour Government, of which the HRA is the pinnacle, and the reality of the large-scale erosion of civil liberties that has continued to occur over the last 13 years.