With the Government intending to consult about the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities my latest thread on the OurKingdom blog outlines my perspective on the Northern Ireland experience of trying to draft a Bill of Rights. Whatever the lessons for a UK-wide process, the final Forum report has put the NIHRC in an extremely difficult position. It is up to them to produce proposals based on the Bill of Rights Forum report. However, in the absence of a consensus and to ensure a report was produced, the document format details exactly the levels of political support for each measure with hardly any gaining cross-community support. The NIHRC will have to choose from these recommendations, in essence it will have to pick sides. ‘Bias’ will be easily identified and quantified. A substantial re-write opens a host of other problems. With the NIHRC proposals due in December it will be seen whether the Forum gave them an early present or a metaphorical ticking bomb?
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