Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Are Human Rights Scuppering Democracy? Speeches Battle of Ideas Festival 2025
#HumanRightsDebate
#echr
#ukpolitics
Once seen as a postwar safeguard against tyranny, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its incorporation into UK law through the Human Rights Act have, according to opponents, undergone ‘mission creep’, empowering lawyers to override democratic will, especially on immigration and security. Supporters argue human-rights protections are vital for free speech, equality and privacy, noting recent rulings such as restrictions on police facial-recognition use.
Are human rights good or bad for democracy? Is the problem not with human rights themselves, but with overreach from a European body, the Council of Europe, which oversees the ECHR? Have ‘lefty lawyers’ been given too much of a free hand to shape human-rights law in a ‘progressive’ political direction at the expense of British culture, values and interests? Is the real problem that cowardly politicians are happy for lawyers to take the flak for decisions they quietly agree with? In a wider context, would dumping human rights remove important protections on free speech, privacy, the right to protest and individual liberty?
The speakers on the panel are:
Dr Shahrar Ali former deputy leader, Green Party
Dr Natalie Alkiviadou senior research fellow, The Future of Free Speech, Vanderbilt University
Jon Holbrook barrister; writer, spiked, Critic, Conservative Woman
Professor Gavin Phillipson professor of law, University of Bristol
The Chair is: Eve Kay award-winning executive producer
WORLDwrite is a volunteer-run citizen TV channel that stands up for free speech – no ifs or buts. We film hard-hitting political debates, including panels from the Battle of Ideas festival, tackling taboo topics and defending ordinary people against contempt and censorship.
We train hundreds of young adults every year to shoot the arguments that matter, producing fearless films on politics, democracy, freedom, and global equality.
This is Citizen TV that punches above its weight.
Subscribe for unapologetic documentaries, debate and dissent.
Are Human Rights Scuppering Democracy? Speeches Battle of Ideas Festival 2025
#HumanRightsDebate
#echr
#ukpolitics
Once seen as a postwar safeguard against tyranny, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its incorporation into UK law through the Human Rights Act have, according to opponents, undergone ‘mission creep’, empowering lawyers to override democratic will, especially on immigration and security. Supporters argue human-rights protections are vital for free speech, equality and privacy, noting recent rulings such as restrictions on police facial-recognition use.
Are human rights good or bad for democracy? Is the problem not with human rights themselves, but with overreach from a European body, the Council of Europe, which oversees the ECHR? Have ‘lefty lawyers’ been given too much of a free hand to shape human-rights law in a ‘progressive’ political direction at the expense of British culture, values and interests? Is the real problem that cowardly politicians are happy for lawyers to take the flak for decisions they quietly agree with? In a wider context, would dumping human rights remove important protections on free speech, privacy, the right to protest and individual liberty?
The speakers on the panel are:
Dr Shahrar Ali former deputy leader, Green Party
Dr Natalie Alkiviadou senior research fellow, The Future of Free Speech, Vanderbilt University
Jon Holbrook barrister; writer, spiked, Critic, Conservative Woman
Professor Gavin Phillipson professor of law, University of Bristol
The Chair is: Eve Kay award-winning executive producer
WORLDwrite is a volunteer-run citizen TV channel that stands up for free speech – no ifs or buts. We film hard-hitting political debates, including panels from the Battle of Ideas festival, tackling taboo topics and defending ordinary people against contempt and censorship.
We train hundreds of young adults every year to shoot the arguments that matter, producing fearless films on politics, democracy, freedom, and global equality.
This is Citizen TV that punches above its weight.
Subscribe for unapologetic documentaries, debate and dissent.
