Ritchie presses NI Minister on repeal of Human Rights Act | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Ritchie presses NI Minister on repeal of Human Rights Act

SDLP MP for South Down, Margaret Ritchie, has written to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Northern Ireland Office, Minister Ben Wallace, pressing him on the impact the repeal of the Human Rights Act would have on the Good Friday Agreement.

Margaret RitchieSpeaking to Newry Times, Ritchie said, “In response to questions that I have tabled on the repeal of the Human Rights Act and its impact on the Good Friday Act, Minister Wallace wrote that the Government was confident a British Bill of Rights would be “consistent” with the Agreement.”

“Yet the two sentences comprising the Minister’s response did not provide much scope for detail or explanation. I have written to the Minister emphasising that the Human Rights Act is an intrinsic component of the Good Friday Agreement and asking him to detail how exactly the Government are so certain that the Agreement will not be affected by such a repeal.”

She added, “The SDLP will strongly oppose this retrograde measure which could damage and weaken the human rights aspects of the Good Friday Agreement. We will not tolerate a legislative vacuum on human rights here.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=54065

Posted by on Dec 10 2015. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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