On Fantasy Island

Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

Conor Gearty

Carefully dissects the arguments for the repeal of the Human Rights Act
Challenges the 'for' party by debunking the myths and fantasies that are the catalyst for a repeal
Will be the 'go to' book for information on both sides of the argument
Examines how human rights have played out in British history and culture
Discusses the future of the debate and how the Human Right Act will determine the nature of the United Kingdom

On Fantasy Island

Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

Conor Gearty

Description

In the 2015 UK General Election, the Conservative party pledged to reset the UK's relations with Europe, holding an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union and repealing the Human Rights Act, to be replaced with a UK Bill of Rights. With the decision now taken to leave the EU, the future of the Human Rights Act and the UK's relations to the European Convention on Human Rights remains uncertain.

Conor Gearty, one of the country's leading experts on human rights, here dissects the myths and fantasies that drive English exceptionalism over Europe, and shape the case for repealing the Human Rights Act. He presents a passionate case for keeping the existing legal framework for protecting human rights and our relationship with the European Convention. Analysing the reform agenda from the perspective of British law, history, politics, and culture, he lays bare the misunderstandings of the human rights system that have driven the debate so far.

Structured in three parts, the book first exposes the myths that drive the anti-Human Rights Act argument. Second, Gearty outlines how the Act operates in practice and what its impact really is on the ground. Third, he looks to the future and the kind of Britain we want to live in, and how, for all its modesty, the survival or otherwise of the Human Rights Act will play a pivotal part in that future.

On Fantasy Island

Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

Conor Gearty

Introduction
I. The Fantasies
1: Why the Human Rights Act Matters
2: The Myth of the Marvellous Past
3: The Seductive Power of the Present
4: The Inevitability of Human Rights
5: The Supremacy of the Human Rights Act
6: The Supremacy of the Judges
7: The Supremacy of Strasbourg
8: A Charter for the Bad
II. The Facts
9: Protecting the Exposed
10: Making a Difference
11: Telling Us Who We are
III. The Future
12: Repeal: How Can We Tell?
13: British Values: Shrinking into Little England
Conclusion

On Fantasy Island

Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

Conor Gearty

Author Information

Conor Gearty, Professor of Human Rights and Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, London School of Economics

Conor Gearty is Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Institute of Public Affairs at LSE, having previously worked at Cambridge University and at King's College London. His books include Can Human Rights Survive? (2006) and Liberty and Security (2013) as well as Freedom under Thatcher (1990) and The Struggle for Civil Liberties (2000) (both with Keith Ewing), and Civil Liberties (2007). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Bencher of Middle Temple and has honorary degrees from Sacred Heart University, University College Dublin, Roehampton, and Brunel Universities.

On Fantasy Island

Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

Conor Gearty

Reviews and Awards

"On Fantasy Island is an excellent read and a much-needed contribution to the debate on whether the [Human Rights Act] should be repealed in favour of a proposed British Bill of Rights." - Rachael Ita, Times Higher Education

"Conor Gearty's forensically brilliant defence of the Human Rights Act routs the fallacies and fantasies of the Naysayers. His argument is for a nation - indeed a world where human decency prevails. Lucid, powerful, and advocacy at its finest. A triumph!" - Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

"A lucid, forensic, somewhat irreverent exposition of what for many people is an arcane subject, but one that has done more than most of us realise to shape the society in which we live." - Chris Mullin, The Irish Times

On Fantasy Island

Britain, Europe, and Human Rights

Conor Gearty

From Our Blog

What is the future of human rights in the UK following Brexit?

Imminent departure from the European Union has delayed but not dimmed the British government's determination to have done with domestic human rights law. Enacted in the early years of the Blair administration, the Human Rights Act 1998 has long irritated the Conservative Party and its influential friends. It is the recent attack on immigration launched by the Home Secretary Amber Rudd at the most recent Tory conference that makes the Act particularly vulnerable in the context of the move to Brexit.

Posted on October 24, 2016

Read the blog post