Principles of good public administration should be included in a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities as a step towards their inclusion in a written UK constitution, says the Green Party in its response to the current government consultation.(1)
Party leader Caroline Lucas MEP explained today, "I think the Bill should acknowledge the government's responsibility for good public administration, for facilitating well-informed public debate, and for improving civic participation in decision-making. I also think a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities might be a good opportunity to ensure greater accountability of elected representatives."
Economic and social rights
The Green Party's submission laid out a long list of economic and social rights which the Greens would like to see enshrined the the Bill, including free education to age 18; the right to creative and rewarding work; free health care, good social care, and decent housing, including the right of homeless people to be housed.
The EU's Working Time Directive should be incorporated into the Bill, giving people the right to fair pay and more freedom in relation to their work life, says the Green Party's response document.
The Greens also want the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights to be included in full in the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, with legal backing. And the right of terminally ill people to assisted suicide should be upheld, say the Greens.
Freedom of speech "conspicuous by its absence from government proposals"
Caroline Lucas said today, "Freedom of speech is conspicuous by its absence from the paper"
"Whilst there are provisions in the Human Rights Act for freedom of expression, such rights are constantly threatened by attempts to curtail freedom of speech and the right to protest peacefully."
"The right to freedom of speech, the right to peaceful protest and the right to freedom of assembly and association should be protected by law in any Bill of Rights and Responsibilities."
The Green Party's response document says, "The Conservatives have called for the Human Rights Act (HRA) to be scrapped, and would abolish the Act with their version of a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. Labour has repeatedly undermined the provisions in the HRA through legislation and policy-making in the areas of anti-terror, criminal justice, policing and asylum, despite being the Government to bring in the Act. The Government have also done little to explain or promote the HRA to the public."
Responsibility for the environment
The Green Party's response also insisted that "It is essential that rigorous, strong principles of environmental protection and genuinely sustainable practices be protected in a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities."
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Notes
1) The full Green Party response can be read here.