L3 HUMAN RIGHTS: Summary of Reading Comprehension 1, p. 48-49

Summary of Reading Comprehension 1, p. 48-49

Key Issues for the UK Parliament: From the HUman Rights Act to a Bill of Rights?

Initially, the Human Rights Act was adopted in 1998 in order to “bring rights home”, that is to say to make provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights directly applicable in domestic courts so that claimants (UK residents / UK citizens + foreign nationals) could bring / might bring rights-related claims (i.e. claims based on the ECHR) and obtain redress in the UK.

Structure: To make something applicable...

This act, however, has been subject to sustained (withering / unsparing) criticism on the part of some sections of the population as well as some politicians.

Vocabulary: 

Sustained criticism / Withering criticism / Unsparing criticism

First of all, this unpopularity may be explained by the fact that since the Act was adopted, UK courts have had to adjudicate on “political” issues that until then had been the preserve of the legislative (or the executive), thus / thereby contributing to challenging the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.

Structures:
Since + Present perfect
To Contribute to doing something
Vocabulary: the preserve of

Besides / On top of this, on account of a number of controversial high-profile cases, where (in which) people having committed particularly serious criminal offences relied on the HRA to avoid deportation / extradition and seek asylum in the UK, the HRA has been “branded” as a criminals’ charter.

A: This has led / prompted the conservatives to campaign for a repeal of the HRA, proposing to replace it with a British Bill of Rights and Duties, which, they contend, would grant better protection of historic constitutional rights.

(This has spurred the conservatives into campaigning for…)

OR B: Recently, the Conservatives have been advocating / have been campaigning for a repeal of the HRA, proposing to replace it with a British Bill of Rights and Duties, which, they contend, would grant better protection of historic constitutional rights. The practicalities of this bill of Rights (which some see as the first step towards an entrenched constitution) have yet to be clarified (or "spelt out") / still require clarification. 

While it might not include some rights granted by the Convention, it may also extend constitutional protection to rights not imbedded / enshrined in the Convention, such as a right to healthcare.  

Structures: 

To lead someone to do something / to prompt someone to do something = to spur someone into doing something

To advocate something / to campaign for something