LETTER: UK needs a Bill of Rights

Most sensible people will have been appalled by The Court of Appeal’s latest thwarting of Home Secretary Theresa May’s admirable efforts to deport the radical Islamist preacher Abu Qatada.

It beggars belief that such a dangerous person is still allowed to remain here, in a country and culture for which he clearly has the utmost contempt. We are told by the politically correct brigade that, were he to face trial in his native Jordan, he could not be guaranteed a fair trial and so deportation would infringe his human rights. The poor lamb!

If a country, regardless of the colours of the government of the day, cannot be allowed to deport a recognised and accepted threat to its people, there is something radically wrong with its legal system; that nation is made to look powerless and a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the world.

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As I have said repeatedly on these – and other – pages, it is high time we took matters into our own hands. The Human Rights Act, being unworthy of the paper on which it is written, should be torn up into millions of tiny pieces. It should then be replaced by our own Bill of Rights, stating our independence from the notorious European Court of Human Rights and other similarly useless institutions.

France does not think twice about deporting people who represent a risk to its security and neither should we; there will be protests from the usual quarters and “rentacrowd” mobs will doubtless march up and down with their banners, but we can wear such criticism as a badge of honour.

The aforementioned farce provides further evidence that, sadly, to call Britain “great” is now a breach of the trade descriptions act. However, it wasn’t always thus and it needn’t be the case in the future. All it takes is courage and a sense of priority; if you happen to stumble upon these qualities in the street, please return them to 10 Downing Street!

SIMON KERINS

Chairman, UKIP Ribble Valley