Lord Falconer and Daniel Hannan on European Courts of Human Rights

Lord Falconer and Daniel Hannan on European Courts of Human Rights

18 February 2011 Last updated at 14:17

Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan suggests the UK should leave the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR) but the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, disagrees.

Europe's top judge said the UK government would be acting like a 1960s Greek dictator if it were to ignore ECHR rulings, but leaked documents reveal the only repercussions Britain would face would be political rather than judicial.

It comes after backbenchers forced a debate in the Commons on the court's ruling that prisoners should be allowed to vote and the British Supreme Court ruled that sex offenders should have the right to appeal against being kept on the offenders' register for life.

Rosa Prince of the Daily Telegraph and Nick Watt from the Guardian also give their views.



Charles Falconer: "What is the point of human rights if they are not legally enforceable?".

Precisely, so why did he not ensure that the convicted prisoners human right to vote was legally enforceable in the UK?