TO be fair to Cllr Howarth in her first speech to council she made a thoughtful and considered case for the retention of the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998.

I want however to take issue with what she said; firstly human rights did not begin in the UK with the passing of HRA 1998. This country has a long and proud history of defending and promoting human rights. It is part of our culture and one of the things which makes the UK such a good place to live.

Secondly it is clear the HRA rather than ‘protecting the most vulnerable in society’ has on many occasions set out to protect the most dangerous and criminal in society.

The idea as Cllr Howarth stated in her letter 5-12-14 that the European Convention on Human Rights protects us from state fascism will ring hollow with Eastern Europeans who lived under communist dictatorship from 40 years and had their human rights assaulted on a daily basis without any right or recourse to the established convention.

The HRA has fallen into disrepute; the British people know a bad law when they see one. They want it removed from the statue and replaced with an Act that protects responsible citizens and is not subject to judicial activism, that is to say, judges who extend the meaning of the act far beyond the intentions of its original promoters.

Cllr Martyn Cox

Westhoughton North and Chew Moor