European court ‘should not interfere’

The European Court of Human Rights should not be able to second guess the UK’s courts, a top lawyer has said.

The Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC has said the Strasbourg-based court should not interfere with controversial issues, such as prisoners being allowed to vote, if the matter has already gone before the national authorities. 

Mr Grieve has urged the European court to follow its own advice and acknowledge that the local legal system is better equipped to understand an individual nation’s needs than an international body. 

He pointed out that the legal principle of subsidiarity says member states like the UK ”have the primary responsibility for guaranteeing and protecting human rights at a national level”.

He also backed the views expressed by England and Wales’ most senior judge that while UK courts have to consider European rulings, they are not bound by them. 

“Of course the United Kingdom should still be subject to the judgments of the Strasbourg court but the court should not normally need to intervene in cases that have already been properly considered by the national courts applying the (European) Convention (on Human Rights),” he said. 

Speaking to lawyers at Lincoln’s Inn in central London, Mr Grieve said he would appear before the European court on behalf of the UK to argue that it is exceeding its mandate by interfering in the prisoner voting case.

But he warned that ”the court does not always follow its own advice”, drawing attention to an Italian case that “set down specific rules about the circumstances in which prisoners can be disenfranchised”.

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