Conservatives' plan to repeal Human Rights Act could force Britain out of the European Union

9.28.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 29th May 2009

The European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg

The Law Society Gazette reports that the UK could find itself parting company with the European Union if Tory pledges to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) are carried through, the head of the Council of Europe has warned Conservative party activists.

David Cameron has pledged to repeal the HRA, which since 2000 has incorporated the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. A replacement British Bill of Rights would lead to a less hands-on approach by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Tories argue.

The ECHR in Strasbourg is responsible to the Council of Europe, which has 47 members (including Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway and many other countries which are not members of the European Union). It is not one of the Institutions of the European Union. However, it is a requirement of membership of the European Union that countries subscribe to the European Convention on Human Rights and submit to the jurisdiction of the ECHR.

Council secretary general Terry Davis, in London this month to mark the 60th anniversary of the council's creation, told the Law Society Gazette he had 'privately warned' the Tories that repealing the HRA could have far-reaching consequences. 'In the first instance, it would return the UK to dependency on judgments from Strasbourg rather than its own domestic courts - as was the case prior to 2000. This will simply slow the process down, not least because the court has a 20,000 backlog of cases waiting to be heard.'

Davis added that to escape Strasbourg's overarching jurisdiction the UK would also need to withdraw from the ECHR, which Strasbourg enforces. Withdrawal would disqualify it from membership of the council and thus from the EU 'because every member state of the EU must be a member of the council, too.'

Conservative Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve has claimed that a British bill of rights would be compatible with membership of the Convention.