European Convention on Human Rights: 75th Anniversary

Lord Balfe Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, and to take part in the debate of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, who gave a masterful introduction. I served for six years on the Council of Europe, and for two years I was the chair of a small sub-committee for the enforcement of European Court of Human Rights judgments. One of my Trivial Pursuit questions was: which country had failed the most applications to bring it into line? The answer I always got was Russia. I said no, so people said, “Well, it must be Turkey”. Actually, it was Italy. So the court does a valuable job.

I will add to the number of dates that have been mentioned. In 1966, Prime Minister Wilson accepted the jurisdiction of the court. That is also worth putting into the record because for 48 years, we have accepted its jurisdiction, and, in good times and bad, we have managed to survive.

I also had four years on the Venice Commission, which is another bit of international co-operation attached to the Council of Europe. For two years, I was its vice-chairman. I learned a lot about human rights because a lot of the Venice Commission references were concerned with one aspect or another of human rights. So I would also like the Government to reaffirm their commitment. I am sure they will, because that is the way I read the statements that have been made so far.

I will make two other observations. Where on earth is our Attorney-General? We never see him. He is the top law officer. I very much respect the noble Baroness who is here to reply to the debate, but, if ever there were a debate that needed the Government’s top lawyer, it is this one. I just make that point in passing.

I fully agree with a number of noble Lords who have said that the judges in the court, and the Council of Europe itself, have been busy with mission creep ever since it was set up. I recall that, when I went to Strasbourg as an elected MEP in 1979, the late John Silkin said to me, “Why do you want to join an outfit with no power?” I said to him, “John, put 435 politicians in a room and they’ll soon find it”. If you look at the reforms of the European Union—free movement, for instance, and all the rest—they date from that elected assembly.

I have one final point to make. The Government recently said that one of the problems was the

“exploitation of the

European Court of Human Rights

“by the human rights legal industry”.

The Government need to look at the legal industry. We need to find a way to do this because the judgment about chicken nuggets, which is often referred to, is a gross distortion of the work of the court. Maybe the Government could address this to see whether it is possible to issue some tighter guidance.