The Human Rights Act has been with us for several decades now and started out as the UK’s legislation to give effect to the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights.

This importation of European legal concepts into UK law and the involvement of the European Court of Human Rights has caused Governments some challenges over the years, particularly in the field of immigration. This has culminated most recently in the European Court of Human Rights Judgement preventing the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The current Government is proposing to address what they see as a problem by introducing a Bill of Rights which would, opponents say, significantly water down the current protections.

It would, for example, mean that British courts did not have to follow the rulings of the ECHR, the Government could ignore interim injunctions, and it would be harder to pursue Human Rights claims because a permission hurdle would have to be met.

This is probably the biggest shakeup of Human Rights legislation since the Human Rights Act 1998 came in and it remains to be seen what the practical implications may be.

However, the public policy driver behind it is clearly to make deportations easier and less challengeable in the courts. That does not mean that there will be no process to be followed or that Government and Civil servants can act with no checks from the Courts. Immigration law is a complex area and there are now likely to be new legal principals which have to be considered by the courts, lawyers and their clients. Because of the complexities it is sensible to use a solicitor if you need legal advice on this area

If you feel that your human rights are being violated, or if you have an immigration issue, you can find a regulated solicitor who specialises in these areas at search4legal.co.uk. We provide our search entirely anonymously and will never ask for your personal data.