Government refusing to sign up to Brexit safeguards so it can change Human Rights Act, Gove admits

Brussels wants UK to commit to human rights in writing as condition of trade deal

The UK is refusing to sign up to human rights safeguards demanded by the EU in exchange for a trade deal so that the government has the option of changing the Human Rights Act, Michael Gove has said.

The cabinet office minister told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the government might want to “enhance” legislation on human rights “in all sorts of ways”.

Britain, along with every country in Europe other than Belarus, is a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights. Brussels wants the UK to commit to seeing the status quo on the issue as part of the terms of a Brexit trade agreement.

But UK negotiators have refused, claiming that the issue is a matter of “sovereignty”.

Asked why he was reluctant to agree to the EU’s demands, Michael Gove told the future relationship with the EU select committee: “It’s a question of sovereignty and the EU determining whether or not our own legislation is sufficient to give effect to the rights of citizens to ensure that their position under the ECHR is safeguarded.

“It is a question of sovereignty: to say that one particular legislative mechanism is pristine perfect and cannot be changed unless you secure the permission of another sovereign entity is I think an infringement of sovereignty. Some people might argue that it was justified but it is nevertheless an infringement.”

Asked whether that meant the government might change the Human Rights Act, he said: “We might enhance it, in all sorts of ways.”

In 2018 Dominic Cummings said a referendum on membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is entirely separate from the EU, would be “high on the agenda” if he ever got involved in politics again.

The government’s official position is that it has no intention of leaving the convention.

It was reported in February that ministers wanted to force through new “anti-terror” laws and were also looking at potentially suspending the ECHR, however.

The new laws would allow it to retroactively extend prison sentences after they had been served, among other new powers. Downing Street would not confirm or deny whether the approach would be followed.

The Brexit trade talks taking place with the EU are set to end in December, barring a further extension. Human rights are one of the main stumbling blocks that has so far prevented significant progress, with others including fishing, EU regulations, and the governance of the deal.