Chris Grayling: It's time to reign in the powers of international courts

 
Chris Grayling13 November 2013
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There is no doubt that we were duped by Labour. When it was first written, the Charter of Fundamental Rights was designed to be a core part of a constitution for Europe. Even today leading figures in Brussels still talk of it as a foundation for their vision of a collective European nation – one even said it should be taught in all our schools.

And Tony Blair and his Ministers said it would never happen. "We will not," he said, "accept a treaty that allows the charter of fundamental rights to change UK law in any way". The then Europe Minister Keith Vaz assured us that the Charter would not be "legally enforceable".

They did not tell us the truth. The Charter is now very much a part of our law. They signed up to it in the Lisbon Treaty. It should only apply when European law applies within the UK. But last week’s ruling suggests the possibility of something more than that. I am determined that we challenge this idea and will seek to do so in our courts as soon as possible.

The problem with vaguely worded international treaties, like the Charter of Fundamental Rights is that they put huge power in the hands of European courts. They have freedom to challenge our laws, and our parliament is powerless to stop them unless the Treaties themselves are rewritten.

We now face a fundamental question about who governs Britain. And the two European courts seem to have complete freedom to decide where and when they can take decisions. Just last month the European Court of Human Rights ruled against our whole life tariff regime for the most unpleasant of criminals.

I think it’s time for all of this to change. We cannot go on seeing crucial decisions about our society and our system of justice and government being taken by unaccountable international courts.

That’s why we as Conservatives are planning to act. We want to renegotiate our membership of the European Union, of which the European Court of Justice is part. And we will shortly publish a strategy document which will lead to wholesale changes in our human rights laws and the curtailing of the role of the other European Court, of human rights, in the UK.

British people want decisions about things that are crucial to their security and their rights to be taken in this country. Like me they are frustrated by what is happening now, and they want change. I can’t deliver that change right now. Both the other two major parties are happy with the status quo, and they have more votes than we do.

"But rest assured, under a majority Conservative Government, this will all change."

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