The Future of the European Convention on Human Rights in the United Kingdom: CELS/CPL/LCIL Roundtable
Cambridge Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS) Podcast
Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
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🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 101 minutes
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Summary
The Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS), The Centre for Public Law (CPL) and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) held a roundtable event on 'The Future of the European Convention on Human Rights in the United Kingdom' on 21 February 2026.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) remains one of the most significant instruments of human rights protection in Europe. Yet in the United Kingdom, its place in the constitutional order is increasingly contested. Political debate has raised questions about the appropriateness of the ECHR's reach, its domestic incorporation through the Human Rights Act 1998, and the proper balance between parliamentary sovereignty and Strasbourg supervision.
The aim of this roundtable was to bring together Cambridge academics to consider possible trajectories for reform and the mechanisms to achieve this. The discussion provided a space not only for doctrinal and legal analysis but also for assessing political realities and potential path. The roundtable started from the perspective that there is a perception, very strong in some quarters, that the ECHR is not fit for purpose.
Chair: Catherine Barnard
- Nabil Khabirpour
- Jan Klabbers
- Marcus Gehring
Chair: Sandesh Sivakumaran
- Darren Peterson
- Stevie Martin
For further information:
CELS: https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/
CPL: https://www.cpl.law.cam.ac.uk/
LCIL: https://www.lcil.cam.ac.uk/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, good afternoon everyone. It's a great delight to see so many of you here at this |
| 0:07.0 | joint roundtable hosted by Cells, the Centre for Public Law and the Latterpac Centre. |
| 0:14.0 | My name is Catherine Barnard and I'm going to be chairing the first part of this session. |
| 0:22.1 | And we're obviously here to talk about the fate of the European Convention, but I suspect |
| 0:28.6 | we're all minded of the broader geopolitical issues that are currently facing the world. |
| 0:35.5 | Indeed, I was listening to Trump speaking at Davos as I |
| 0:38.6 | walked over here now, and it wasn't good. I think you might have all had a look at or at least |
| 0:47.8 | heard parts of the extraordinary impressive speech given by Mark Carney yesterday. And if you |
| 0:53.7 | haven't, I strongly commend you to do it. |
| 0:56.3 | It's all over the web. And he is extremely blunt about the place that we find ourselves in. He notes |
| 1:07.4 | the rise of authoritarian governments and authoritarian leadership and a willingness to rip up |
| 1:16.3 | what we once knew as the rules-based international legal order. |
| 1:22.0 | And while we know this, it's rather solitary to hear from a man who's very close to it or just what a dire |
| 1:30.4 | place we're in. However, one thing that's really striking about his speech is he says that |
| 1:36.8 | the states who are not part of the United States and its sphere of influence need to come together with a we should be |
| 1:47.5 | principled in our commitment to fundamental values but those fundamental values do include respect for |
| 1:54.2 | human rights which brings us to the subject matter of today. |
| 2:06.9 | Now, we know the challenges externally to fundamental rights coming from all sources. |
| 2:16.5 | We are going to be talking today about the challenges to the European Convention and the Human Rights Act coming internally, |
| 2:20.5 | namely from the leader of the Conservative Party, Kevin Vavnock, and also from reform, both of whom are committed to withdrawing from the European |
| 2:27.1 | Convention, should they come to power, whether it be on a joint ticket or on a ticket |
| 2:33.7 | supporting other parties. |
... |
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