Simon Hughes: Tories abandoning human rights to counter Ukip
Version 0 of 1. Simon Hughes has accused the Conservatives of seeking to abandon the “single greatest advance” in the protection of human rights simply to counter the threat posed by Ukip. Speaking the the Lib Dem party conference in Glasgow on Saturday, the justice minister said he had never expected to be “climbing into bed” with a Tory government and much less to be waking up with Chris Grayling, the justice secretary and his ministerial boss. The Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP said the defence of human rights was a key reason for the Liberal Democrats going into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, and that it also made it vital for the party to stay in government after the next election. “When I see the international agreements and the domestic laws which protect the human rights of the most vulnerable being threatened by the Tories … That is a fight I cannot sit out,” he said. Hughes said that David Cameron and Grayling aimed to scrap the Human Rights Act and undermine the European convention on human rights, which he called the “greatest single advance in the legal protection of human rights anywhere in the world”. “The Tories would ditch the Human Rights Act because they care more about losing votes to Ukip than the rights of British citizens,” he told the conference. “It is a British convention through and through … Just think of the message we would be sending around the world, to Russia, Syria and China, if we ripped up our own commitment to international human rights.” The former deputy party leader urged activists to remember why it was important for them to be in government, even as the Lib Dems continued to slide in opinion polls. Hughes also announced plans for better treatment of female prisoners if the party stayed in power next year, and said he wanted fewer women in custody. “Liberal Democrats will continue to put forward a better, fairer vision of how we reduce crime in our country,” he said. “And if we want not just to win the argument, but then also to deliver this radical agenda we must remember it is only possible by being in government.” |