Meeting of the Parliament 16 March 2016
If I may quote from the Official Report, Mr Thompson said that
“The fact that the ECHR is written into the 1998 act needs to be looked at. That provision needs to be removed so that we have the same freedom in proposing legislation as any other legislature has.”—[Official Report, Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, 3 February 2016; c 56.]
I wonder whether some of those conventions could not come back to haunt the Government a little bit. Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the minister mentioned, commits signatories
“To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications”.
I find myself wondering where that might leave the Government—for example, in relation to its stance on genetically modified crops, if that were to be tested. However, that is for another debate. I would be grateful if the minister could confirm in winding up that the ECHR still provides the basis for human rights in Scottish legislation that is passed by this Parliament.