Eight named to review Human Rights Act operation

An eight person expert panel under retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Peter Gross of experts has been appointed to consider whether there is a need to reform the Human Rights Act 1998.

The review, promised by the UK Government in its election manifesto, will examine how the Act is operating 20 years after it came into force. It is expected to report its recommendations in summer 2021.

Specifically, the review will consider:

• The relationship between the domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This includes how the duty to "take into account" ECtHR case law has been applied in practice, and whether dialogue between our domestic courts and the ECtHR works effectively and if there is room for improvement.
• The impact of the Act on the relationship between the judiciary, executive and Parliament, and whether domestic courts are being unduly drawn into areas of policy.
• The implications of the way the Act applies outside the territory of the UK and whether there is a case for change.

Announcing the review, the Government confirmed that the UK "remains committed to the European Convention on Human Rights. The review is limited to looking at the structural framework of the Human Rights Act, rather than the rights themselves".

Panel members comprise senior legal figures and academics, selected based on their long experience. They are:

• Sir Peter Gross (chair), senior presiding judge for England & Wales from January 2013 to December 2015, and current President of the Slynn Foundation, dedicated to advancing the rule of law internationally;
• Simon Davis, formerly partner and now consultant with global law firm Clifford Chance for 26 years, and President of the Law Society of England & Wales until October 2020;
• Alan Bates, a barrister specialising in EU law, and now in the new area of the law governing the relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU);
• Professor Maria Cahill of University College Cork, whose research is focused on constitutional law, including the relationship between domestic and international law
• Lisa Giovannetti QC, who has a broad public law practice, with a particular focus on human rights, asylum, immigration and cases concerning national security issues;
• Sir Stephen Laws QC(Hon), former First Parliamentary Counsel and now a Senior Research Fellow with Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project;
• Professor Tom Mullen of the University of Glasgow, whose research studies include administrative justice, judicial review, human rights legislation, tenancy rights, and housing and antisocial behaviour; and
• Baroness Nuala O’Loan, a qualified solicitor and member of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee of the House of Lords.

The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC, MP, commented: "After 20 years of operation, the time is right to consider whether the Human Rights Act is still working effectively.

"I am grateful to Sir Peter Gross and his esteemed panel for undertaking this timely and important piece of work and look forward to his findings."

Sir Peter Gross responded: "The Act constitutes a most important part of our legal framework; IHRAR [the review] will entail an independent process of careful reflection to consider its workings, together with whether and, if so, what, reforms might be justified."

The review will run alongside the separate independent review of judicial review.