ways to protect rights

• government legislation

  Parliamentary sovereignty gives government power to adjust laws through secondary legislation and protect righrs

  • Equality act 2010 was government legislation
  • HRA, incorpoarting ECHR to UK law, has ensured a legal protection of universal rights
  • Uncodified nature of the constitution makes it flexible
• government legislation counter

  Recent tory government have expressed wanting to scrap HRA and replacer with British bill of rights as they want to leave EU jurisdiction and law.

  • See with blocking gender recognition bill in Scotland
  • Government with strong majorities have power to scrap legislation
  • Rwanda bill - ping pong politics - controversy of breaching human rights
• pressure groups educate and protect minority rights

  • Issue groups utilised direct action to raise awareness on critical social issues like civil liberty
  • Liberty "Save our HRA" campaign
  • protesting against Rwanda bill pass - "branded parliament a crime scene"
• pressure groups counter - measurement of success of groups

  • pressure groups measure success through wealth, status and membership
  • alongside this, pressure groups can only influence, for an example the goal contradict a government policy
  • 2015 - NHS - new policy for NHS run 7 days with nurses and BMA failed to get this stopped
  • This leads to alienate the public - use of violent action or disrupting the public like stop oil on the motorway
• the courts

  • the Supreme Court was created from the constitutional reform act of 2005
  • independent branch ensuring UK stays within its own constitutional borders
  • Make sure legislation is in line with ECHR , a layer of checks and balances on the UK
  • R miller case
  • Boris johnson peroguing parliament - unlawful
  • judicial review - right to a fair hearing - legacy act
• the courts counter

  • Supreme Court can't strike down, acts as advisory and not legally binding
  • sole job is to interperet statutes - tories scrapping HRA to replace with British bill of rights
  • Blocking Scottish referendum
  • representation in Supreme Court can argue to not protect rights - 1 woman , 10 males