Carswell Nails It

Douglas Carswell - one of the decent MPs to inhabit Westminster - get's this spot on on his blog...

Human Rights legislation has empowered judges to make political decisions.  Matters that ought to be decided by those answerable to the rest of us through the ballot box are increasingly determined by the judiciary.

Government by unaccountable judges adjudicating on the basis of abstract texts is what you'd expect to find in Tehran

Absolutely. And that is what comes of ill-conceived legislation, rushed through parliament without proper scrutiny, and when what scrutiny is applied is by legislators who are deeply ignorant and oblivious to the problems that will be caused by such legislation.

I note again that it is the issue of 'human rights' rather than liberties which causes the issue, because rights confer an entitlement while liberties are negative in that they limit the boundaries of the state.

Note how senior judges have undermined measures introduced by successive Home Secretaries aimed at controlling large scale immigration and asylum into Britain.

Indeed. When the judiciary steps into the political domain, driven by the necessity of poorly worded, vague and ambiguous, and usually fatuitous and fallacious, legislation, we enter dangerous territory.

Legislation should be as specific as possible, be clear in its intentions, and leave as little ambiguity for interpretation as possible. This requires full and proper scrutiny as necessary, an intelligent, informed, and aware legislature, and as limited a state as is practically achievable.