DOMINIC Raab, it is fair to say, has never inspired confidence in his abilities as a politician or in his empathy and compassion as a human being. The man who continued to top up his suntan as chaos and death visited Kabul has now been charged by his indolent and hubristic boss to lead the Tory overhaul of the Human Rights Act. I’m sure that Raab C Brexit’s woeful lack of knowledge of human rights contained in UK legislation such as the Good Friday Agreement will not deter him in the least as his utter lack of introspection and constitutional aptitude continues to show.
Mr Raab claims he will devise a “mechanism” to allow his government to introduce ad hoc legislation to “correct” European Court judgements UK minsters believe are “incorrect.” This is a truly astonishing statement to make, insinuating as it does that parliament would be by-passed by the Cabinet, and it also begs the question as to why this Tory government would seek to remove human rights and fundamental freedoms from the people of the UK?
READ MORE: Nigel Farage left red-faced after lecturing RTE host about Ireland
Raab will claim that the Human Rights Act is used by criminals to prevent their deportation but, like so many other proposed draconian measures introduced by the Conservative government, this is something of a red herring that conceals the true and more sinister purpose of his proposed shake-up of the Human Rights Act that 47 other countries are signatories to.
The 2021 Human Rights Watch report is worth a read if we are to prepare ourselves for the possible changes MPs will debate next year. The Prime Minister’s role model and mentor, a certain Donald Trump, is highlighted by the report, and not in a good way.
Insouciant violations against human rights by the Trump administration were frequent and redolent of the populist traits we are witnessing in the UK at present. President Trump was accused of deliberately undermining the democratic process, fomenting hatred among racial and religious minorities, revoking environmental protections and pursuing xenophobic immigration policies. Abroad he was blamed for withdrawing from key international initiatives to defend human rights and for cosying up to dictators who were guilty of the flagrant flouting of human rights in their own countries.
As Trump’s clone seeks to increasingly emulate him in eroding the pillars of the UK’s democratic state, it might be time for the Scottish Government to consider its own position and take appropriate legal action in advance to protect the Scottish people.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
VARIOUS members of the royal family have championed the environment and the climate, such as Prince Charles recently doing a BBC interview saying he is doing what he can to help the climate in Scotland at Balmoral, and yet earlier this year we learned the Queen became the only person in Scotland who did not need to facilitate the construction of pipelines on her private land to heat buildings using renewable energy as required under the Heat Networks Act 2021. This appears to be hypocrisy.
READ MORE: Stuart Cosgrove: When it comes to the royal family, Scotland is likely to compromise
Royal estates have not been rewilded to date. They amount to 850,000 acres, about 1.4% of land in the UK, and with much of this being for deer stalking and grouse the land is burned, denying the growth of vegetation.
Therefore hearing the likes of Princes Charles and William speaking up for rewilding land but doing nothing about it on their estates, I cannot help thinking that Greta Thunberg was right when she said they all talk blah blah blah about the destruction of our planet.
Sean Clerkin
Barrhead
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