Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-18-Speech-2-401"
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"en.20100518.32.2-401"2
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"Madam President, the rapporteur states in his report that the accession to the ECHR will afford citizens protection against the actions of the Union. I would be far more interested in protecting the residents of my constituency, the West Midlands in the UK, against the action of the Convention on Human Rights.
Of course, in the UK, we incorporated this into our law in 1998, allowing the ECHR to have effect in all our courts. In the manifesto of the new Conservative government, it was promised that they would repeal the Human Rights Act but, as they should have known, Lisbon made the EU a legal entity and the EU has greater powers than the electorate of the United Kingdom. We are reminded of George Orwell. The writing is on the wall and, as we know, some people are more equal than others when it comes to human rights.
Earlier this month, my constituents in Meriden and Hatton suffered invasions by so-called ‘travellers’, who have broken the peace and who are building unauthorised and possibly illegal developments on what little remains of our precious green-belt land. Thanks to the Convention on Human Rights, these travellers have special protected rights. They have priority in health care and education, all at the expense of local taxpayers!
The rapporteur wants us to involve our national courts and ministries of justice in this process. I say that the Convention on Human Rights has done enough damage already. Perhaps the rapporteur would like to visit my constituency and witness at first hand the desecration of our land. Perhaps he would like to speak to the hardworking villagers who have seen the value of their homes plummet. He can inspect the lines of police drafted in to keep the peace and, of course, preserve the special rights of the travellers. He could even enjoy the spectacle of 90 lorries laden with gravel churning up the country lanes where parents walk with their children. He might help residents as they rush to install security equipment in anticipation of the surge in criminal activity that often accompanies such developments.
Of course, these are but small tragedies and are nothing when compared to the important political project that is the European Union, but let us consider that when we propose special rights on one group of citizens, we automatically degrade the rights of others.
The Convention on Human Rights has degraded the rights of my constituents. It should not be up to unelected officials to decide who is special and who is not. We have a newly elected government in the UK which has made promises in this area. In the name of democracy, let them carry out those promises!"@en1
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