'Shrill scaremongering' in Westminster bubble out of step with public over HRA reform

The government is to press ahead with its controversial British Bill of Rights, as one of its ministers labels criticism of the plans as 'shrill and baseless scaremongering'.

Speaking at justice questions, the Dominic Raab MP batted away opposition concerns over the repeal of the Human Rights Act.

Raab rejected claims that Prince Zeid, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, had said that introducing a British Bill of Rights would be 'damaging for victims and contrary to the country's commendable history of global and regional engagement'.

'When we have those meetings, they are a good opportunity to discuss the reality of our plans for reform', Raab said. 'I made it clear that our forthcoming Bill of Rights proposals are based on staying within the convention.

'I explained the kind of abuses that we want to be rid of under the Human Rights Act and some of the challenges that successive governments have had with the Strasbourg court. That allows us to contrast our common-sense reforms with some of the baseless scaremongering coming from some of our critics.'

Ahead of the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament, Raab said he would be mindful of clear rules and Cabinet Office guidance on purdah amid concerns from Labour's Harriet Harman that the consultation for the repeal of the Act could leave Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales constituents 'squashed out'.

Last week, Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said further delays to the launch of the consultation process had created anxiety and concern in some parts of the devolved countries.

The commissioner also acknowledged that 'the European Convention on Human Rights and the Strasbourg court are generally viewed positively in Scotland as accelerators of change'.

When asked whether the impact on the devolved administrations of an attempt to repeal the Act would likely provoke a constitutional crisis, Raab replied that public opinion differed to the 'shrill scaremongering Westminster bubble' with Scotland 'clearly and consistently in favour of a Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act'.