The Human Rights Act 1998 is ‘a vital part of the foundation of our fight against terrorism’, the president of the Supreme Court asserted this week in an outspoken defence of the act.

Setting out a series of recent cases in which government anti-terrorism measures have been ruled unlawful by the House of Lords or Supreme Court, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers noted that the Human Rights Act and the judges who apply it have been attacked by the media.

In a speech last week, the former lord chief justice said that senior judges were criticised by Charles Clarke when he was home secretary because, in Clarke’s words, ‘the judiciary bear not the slightest responsibility for protecting the public and sometimes seem utterly unaware of the implications of their decisions for our society’.

Defending the judges, Phillips told an audience at Gresham College last week that ‘Charles Clarke failed to appreciate that it is the duty of the judiciary to apply the laws that have been enacted by parliament. It was parliament that decreed that judges should apply the Human Rights Convention and, when doing so, to take account of the judgments of the Strasbourg Court'.

He added: ‘In my opinion, the enactment of the Human Rights Act by the previous administration was an outstanding contribution to the upholding of the rule of law in this country and one for which it deserves great credit.’

Discussing the cause of terrorism in Britain, Lord Phillips remarked that the so-called ‘war on terrorism’ was ‘not so much a military as an ideological battle’.

He said: ‘Respect for human rights is a key weapon in that ideological battle.

‘Since the second world war we in Britain have welcomed to the UK millions of immigrants from all corners of the globe, many of them refugees from countries where human rights were not respected.

‘It is essential that they and their children and grandchildren should be confident that their adopted country treats them without discrimination and with due respect for their human rights.

‘If they feel that they are not being fairly treated, their consequent resentment will inevitably result in the growth of those who, actively or passively, are prepared to support terrorists who are bent on destroying our society.

‘The Human Rights Act is not merely their safeguard. It is a vital part of the foundation of our fight against terrorism.’