Tories admit defeat in bid to scrap Human Rights Act

Prime Minister David Cameron wanted to replace the act with a British Bill of Rights which he hoped would claw back justice powers from Europe.

But the £700,000 commission set up by Mr Cameron in 2011 to establish whether the new bill could be established was derailed by infighting among MPs and failed to reach an unanimous conclusion.

Two legal experts on the commission warned scrapping the Human Rights Act could be "possibly even dangerous, with unintended consequences."

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling admitted defeat in his bid to scrap the Act, telling the House of Commons that the Bill would not be made law in this parliament.

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan welcomed the U-turn on plans that would have removed "legal protection against torture and slavery, and unpicked the right to liberty, to open and fair justice, and to protest."

Mr Khan added: "Abolishing the Human Rights Act would see freedom of speech, the right to a private life and to religious freedoms all watered down.

"People up and down the country would have lost the power to right the wrongs of terrible injustices."

Human rights campaign group Liberty said the news would protect British values.

Director of policy Isabella Sankey said: "Conservative detractors should remember that the Act protects religious freedom and is the very law that will prevent religious organisations being forced to conduct same-sex marriages."