Lawyers have dismissed Conservative claims that the Human Rights Act 1998 has fuelled the so-called compensation culture.

Shadow home secretary David Davis last week announced plans to establish a commission which would study the Act. He said: ‘Britain is a country with a long-standing tradition of respect for human rights and liberties. However, the Human Rights Act has given rise to too many spurious rights.


‘It has fuelled a compensation culture out of all sense of proportion and it is our aim to rebalance the rights culture.’


Grosz: "complete nonsense"

The commission - the members of which will be named in October - will be charged with recommending ‘any necessary alteration to the framework of UK law’ which will: ‘guarantee individual liberties while protecting the community from crime and terrorism’; ‘check the escalating volume of "rights" claims against the criminal justice system and other public bodies’; ‘enable a firm and fair immigration and asylum policy which properly reflects the British national interest’; and ‘retain proper parliamentary oversight of our justice system and command the support of the public’.

Mr Davis said the options ranged from reform of the Act to its replacement or repeal. He said the commission should report before the general election.


Leading human rights lawyer Stephen Grosz, a partner at London firm Bindmans, said: ‘The notion that the Human Rights Act has introduced a compensation culture is complete nonsense. It was specifically drafted so as not to be a goldmine for compensation and the courts have been restrained in the remedies they order.’


He added: ‘The Act has worked very well and senior judges would confirm that it has been a success. It was designed to ensure people get in this country what they could get in Strasbourg [at the European Court of Human Rights], only quicker.’


Law Society President Edward Nally said the commission ‘will demonstrate the main impact of the Act has been to enable British courts to deal with human rights abuses when they arise, rather than forcing people to go to Strasbourg for justice’.


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