The United Kingdom elections are a few days away and the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Theresa May, seem poised to continue to be the leading party of the country, which will give them the right to form the next government and define the laws of the UK for the coming five years.
In the wake of Saturday’s terror attack in London the current and probably former PM has been talking about the way the United Kingdom can make sure that such assaults do not happen again and claims that even human rights laws might be tweaked in order to make it easier to suppress terrorists.
Theresa May is quoted by the BBC as saying that, “And if our human rights laws get in the way of doing it, we will change the law so we can do it.”
She explains that the move is designed to do “more to restrict the freedom and movements of terrorist suspects when we have enough evidence to know they are a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court.”
Many have jumped to conclusions, claiming that the PM is aiming to dismantle human rights protections in the name of fighting against terror, linking these statements with previous ones that implied the government is aiming to limit encrypted communications apps and increase its overall surveillance of foreign nations and potential attackers.
But Theresa May is clearly threading lightly here, as shown by her use of “human rights laws” and by the fact that she claims no moves will be made without evidence of threat, even if it might not be enough to get someone in court.
There are a few possible ways that these statements might play out over the coming weeks and months:
- Theresa May and her winning Conservatives might aggressively move to limit rights for those who might engage in terror acts, shoring up support among their own electorate while making sure that Labour and the Liberal-Democrats cannot use it because of the emotional impact of the recent terror attacks.
- The coming government will introduce temporary measures in order to increase security and will test the waters when it comes to limiting rights and to increased surveillance before focusing on more urgent problems, like the increasingly complicated process of Brexit.
- Theresa May is only using potential limitations of human rights laws in order to get Conservatives the best possible result in the elections and will then let the matter drop, with most of the resources of the coming government dedicated to other pressing issues.
I believe that the second option is the one that will appeal to the coming government because it gives the PM a way to appear tough on terror, which is an obvious position for the Conservatives, while also making sure that they do not cross a line when it comes to respect for human rights, which would offer a solid line of attack for their political adversaries.