Rhetoric and rights. Localism and human rights in the UK
The period since early 2010 has seen an increase in the voicing of opposition to the European Court of Human Rights among politicians, pundits and the popular press in the UK. In its more vociferous forms this has called for UK withdrawal from the European Convention and a new Bill of Rights indepen...
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| In: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/osb, |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Language: | Anglais |
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Observatoire de la société britannique
2012
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| Online Access: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | The period since early 2010 has seen an increase in the voicing of opposition to the European Court of Human Rights among politicians, pundits and the popular press in the UK. In its more vociferous forms this has called for UK withdrawal from the European Convention and a new Bill of Rights independent of any interference from “Europe”. At the same time the Prime Minister has been promoting the idea of “The Big Society” in which local communities would be given the power to organise for the provision of their own social and welfare needs in place of “bureaucratic” state provision. These two developments lie on a potential collision course. The Big Society requires the activity of a multitude of local groups exercising local and parochial interests with little regard for universal rights. Such groups have no legal or moral standing in the European rights scheme and no way of resolving what would inevitably become conflicts over opposing parochial interests. It is doubtful that a new independent Bill of Rights could bring such conflicts back into the domain of rights. |
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