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A British withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights would be 鈥渄evastating for Britain and human rights throughout Europe鈥�,聽聽said in a speech to the聽UCL Judicial Institute补苍诲听t at 911爆料网 Laws last week.

Grieve, who was sacked as Attorney General by Prime Minister, David Cameron in July, gave his most detailed criticism yet of the Conservative strategy paper,聽, issued by the current Justice Secretary,聽, in October.

The paper recommends replacing the Human Rights Act and breaking the link with Strasbourg judgments, rendering them merely advisory.聽If the Strasbourg changes are not accepted it says, the UK would leave the Convention.

Responding to the paper, Mr Grieve said: 鈥淪uch a course may be strictly lawful but its practical consequences are likely to be devastating both domestically and for the future of the Convention鈥�.

While conceding that charges of 鈥渕ission creep鈥� by the Court over cases like prisoners鈥� voting rights are 鈥渧alid鈥�, he said that the聽, which Grieve helped聽聽negotiate as Justice Secretary, had addressed the huge backlog of Strasbourg cases, and reinforced the discretion of national courts.

鈥淲e might have achieved more if fellow signatory governments had not been deterred 鈥� because of a fear we wished to diminish the Court鈥檚 effectiveness.鈥�

The Conservative document was going to make further progress still harder.

Mr Grieve said he was struck by the paucity of concrete examples in the document to justify the case for change.聽The added delays and costs involved in the appeals by Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada may have been irritating to ministers, but their appeals failed in the end and resulted in ministers also welcoming the promotion of human rights.

While he agreed that聽聽had been invoked too often to try to prevent the deportation of foreign criminals on completion of their sentence, this had more聽to do with the聽聽and had been rectified by the new聽.

The Conservative proposals would also call into question the devolution settlements for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which each enshrine Convention rights as governing all of their actions. In the case of Northern Ireland, the Convention is incorporated into the Good Friday Agreement, an international treaty.

The proposals, Grieve told the audience, open up the possibility of a new area of political discord, quite apart from the possibility of UK courts having to operate different rights systems in one country: 鈥淔or a Unionist party this seems a strange thing to do.鈥�

The international implications of the Conservative proposals are already evident, countries including Russia and Venezuela are using the UK鈥檚 position and its ambivalence to procrastinate on implementing judgements, or simply ignoring their obligations.

鈥淚t bodes ill for all whose lives have been or could be beneficially affected by the existence of the Convention and the work of the Strasbourg Court and by Human rights conventions generally. It flies in the face of all the good work done internationally by the UK government to promote human rights for so long.鈥�

In the end however, Mr Grieve believes that the Conservative debate will not lead to withdrawal from the Convention, or 鈥漵uch an adverse outcome for human rights or the national interest鈥�.

鈥淲e will win the argument鈥�, he concluded.

Watch Dominic Grieve鈥檚 speech in full

More about Dominic Grieve鈥檚 speech at 911爆料网 Laws

Read the speech in full聽on the UCL Judicial Institute website

听颈苍听the Guardian, 3 December 2014

听颈苍听The Times, 4 December 2014 (拢)