Dear John,

Election campaigns are full of promises hoping to entice your all-important vote, so it’s crucial proposals are properly examined so we know exactly what they mean.

This week the Conservative Party said it would change the Human Rights Act so it no longer applies to incidents that took place before October 2000.

It wishes to change the law to prevent former members of the Armed Forces from facing legal action – in particular those being investigated over alleged wrongdoing in the Northern Ireland conflict.

But prosecutions happen under criminal law, not human rights law, so the proposal won’t achieve that.

What this proposal will in fact do is have a devastating impact on the families of civilians and soldiers who have their lost loved ones.

In recent years we’ve used the Human Rights Act to get new inquests into the deaths of Privates Cheryl James and Sean Benton, who both died at Deepcut barracks in 1995. The families of the 96 people who lost their lives at Hillsborough also secured new inquests into their deaths thanks to the Human Rights Act. None of this would have been possible under these plans. 

And any change to the HRA risks opening the door to further tweaks or wholesale transformation, threatening all our rights.

As candidates vie for your vote, challenge them on what they will do to protect everyone’s fundamental rights and freedoms.

But this is just one of many pressing issues at stake in this election.

In the UK today people are being locked up without release dates, and police are using facial recognition technology on the streets. Legal aid has been decimated and local councils are criminalising homelessness.

The Liberty Manifesto lays out our key demands of everyone standing for election, and what we will strive towards regardless of who forms the next Government.

Claim your free copy today, share it with friends and family, and take your local candidates to task with it.

Together we have the power to change things for the better. Let’s use it.

Martha Spurrier

Liberty Director

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