This conference seeks to take stock of the place of human rights in the United Kingdom after a 14-year period of Conservative Party governance.
The Conservative Party governed the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2024. While their rule included instances where human rights were celebrated, such as the 800th Anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015, for the most part it has been a tumultuous period for human rights protections.
Through the championing of rights-aversion and a return to ‘common sense’, new laws were enacted regulating inter alia asylum applications, the accountability of the armed forces and security services, the freedom of assembly and the right to protest. An attempt was made to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act 1998. EU protections were withdrawn during a frenzied post-Brexit period which coincided with the largest restriction of civil liberties in modern history in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of these developments were advocated through a political rhetoric which was pointedly critical of human rights and international institutions, not least the European Court of Human Rights.
Programme
9.00 – 9.15 Coffee and Welcome
9.15 – 10.35 Panel 1 – Parliament, the People, and the Courts (15 minutes per paper and 20 minutes Q and A)
Frederick Cowell - The Politics of Opposition to the Human Rights Act: Understanding the case from above and below
Stuart Wallace - The Marginalisation of Parliament in Protecting Human Rights
Sophie Gallop - The Conservatives vs The Judges: Shots Across the Bow?
Alan Greene - Silence as Dialogue: Judicial Deference and the Case for Constitutionally Entrenching the Human Rights Act
10.35 – 10.50 Coffee Break
10.50 – 11.50 Panel 2 – How Did We Get Here? (15 minutes per paper and 15 minutes Q and A)
Robert Greally - Whatever Happened to the Conservative Party and the Constitution? A Case Study on the Conservatives’ Human Rights Reform Agenda
Colm O’Cinneide - Politicisation and Persistence: Conservative Government and UK Human Rights Law 2010 - 2024
Magdalena Zabrocka - Beyond Human Rights: Post-Brexit Implications for the UK Legal Order
12:00 – 12.45 Keynote – Roger Masterman, Professor of Constitutional Law, Durham University
12.45 – 1.30 Lunch
1.30 – 2.30 Panel 3 – Rightsholders and the Use of Rights (15 minutes per paper and 15 minutes Q and A)
Richard Martin - Criminalising Contentious Politics: The Public Order Act 2023
Nandini Mitra - Asylum Seekers and Small Boats
Nicola Barker - The Novel, The Trivial and the Stealthy? The Anti-(Women’s) Rights Backlash under the Conservative Government
2.30 – 2.45 Coffee Break
2.45 – 3.45 Panel 4 – Tenacious Human Rights (15 minutes per paper and 15 minutes Q and A)
Gavin Phillipson - Making Rights Optional: the Conservative approach to rights protection, post-Raab
Adam Tucker - The Conservative Government and the Constitutional Status of the UK’s Commitment to Human Rights
Giulia Pecorella - The United Kingdom and its relationship with international courts: which implications for human rights?
3.45 – 4.45 Panel 5 – In Defence of Reform
Robert Craig - The inexorable logic of a Conservative Party formal policy to leave the ECHR
David McGrogan - Prudent Originalism and the Bill of Rights Bill
Rajiv Shah – Human Rights in the United Kingdom under a Conservative Government, an Apologia
4.45 – 5.00 Closing Remarks
5.00 – 6.30 Wine Reception
Host and venue details
Northumbria University is a modern, research-intensive institution with a global reputation for academic excellence. Named UK University of the Year 2022 by Times Higher Education, and Modern University of the Year 2025, it is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, with additional campuses in London and Amsterdam. Originating from Rutherford College (founded in 1880), Northumbria is ranked in the UK’s top 25 for research power.
The conference will be held in Northumbria's Business and Law building with the following address:
Room 403, City Campus East 1 (CCE1), Falconar St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 1UY
Please complete the below form to register to attend:
