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European and External Relations Committee 03 March 2016

03 Mar 2016 · S4 · European and External Relations Committee

Item of business

Human Rights

Neil, Alex SNP Airdrie and Shotts Watch on SPTV

First of all, when we talk about this in the context of the EU referendum, it is very important that we make a clear distinction between the institutional framework that specifically relates to EU legislation, the charter of fundamental rights, and the Council of Europe legislation, which is essentially the convention and the court. Those predate the creation of the European Union. All that has to go together, and clearly the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998 in the UK was the result of a consensus, at that time, about the need for us to reflect all of the charters obligations and conventions obligations in UK law. When the Scottish Parliament was set up, the Scotland Act 1998 made it explicit that we have to adhere to the European convention of human rights—and, indeed, human rights legislation more generally. In 1999, the very first act that the Scottish Parliament had to pass was a result of the human rights legislation. The court had taken a decision about a prosecution that was unsafe under the terms of human rights legislation. We had to pass emergency legislation to rectify that situation. That is a practical example of where the impact of the legislation has been positive in ensuring that we implement people’s human rights. It might not always be popular in certain circumstances, but we cannot decide human rights on the basis of what is popular—it is on the basis of what it is right in principle to do. That is extremely important. Another important point is that, because it is written into the Scotland Act 1998, every piece of primary and secondary legislation that has been considered for introduction to the Scottish Parliament from day 1, both under the previous Scottish Executive and under the Scottish Government—as well as bills and Scottish statutory instruments being presented to the Presiding Officer for approval—has been human rights proofed at every stage. That has brought about a very good discipline in the Scottish Parliament, because it has meant that we have had to proactively give thought to the impact of any proposal on people’s human rights, whether it has been introduced as proposed primary legislation or as secondary legislation. All of that is very positive from our point of view. We might consider some of the very positive decisions that have arisen. You mentioned the example of the bedroom tax, convener. Personally, I think that there is no argument, and that the human rights provisions have been very positive for the people of Scotland and indeed for the rest of the UK. I am always concerned to ensure that the rest of the UK is well looked after, too.

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European and External Relations Committee 03 March 2016

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