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Disability Discrimination, Judicial Review Standing and Right to Die – The Human Rights Roundup

Sarina Kidd

Paul Lamb (credit- Guardian)Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your regular heat wave of human rights news and views. The full list of links can be found here. You can also find our table of human rights cases here and previous roundups here. Links compiled by Adam Wagner, post by Sarina Kidd.

A fairly quiet week in terms of volume, but nevertheless some notable  issues. Of note are plans to restrict judicial review, the ‘bedroom tax’ judgment, and a key decision in the ongoing debate on assisted suicide.

In the News

Disability Discrimination and the ‘Bedroom Tax’

This week’s ‘bedroom tax’ judgment in the High Court has been seen by a number of critics to be a severe blow to disabled tenants in council and housing association accommodation.

Changes to housing benefits regulations came into force in April, and this week, 10 families brought a judicial review case over the lower payments for people in homes deemed too large. Ministers argue that this change will control welfare costs and free up social housing. However, critics have countered that it will be detrimental to households with disabled occupants who require the extra space for health reasons.

Lawyers representing the families argued that the cuts violate the Human rights Act and Equality Act. Nevertheless, the court found that it did not unreasonably discriminate against disabled people. Kate Webb, writing for Shelter, calls the verdict ‘disappointing’ and that the judge did not ‘engage with the limitations of relying on a short term and unpredictable approach to safeguard disabled people’. Further, whilst the offer of additional Discretionary Housing Payments were seen as adequate, the funds, in reality, will only be able to support 5% of those affected by the tax.  Unlike what was previously claimed, this will not just be given to disabled people.

Thinking Legally goes further in its discussion of the verdict, stating that it is ‘an attempt to redraft and pull back from the UK courts’ willingness to accept challenges to the Government via the ECHR’.

See Nearly Legal here and the UKHRB post here.

Judicial Review Curtailment

The Ministry of Justice has announced plans to restrict the test for standing in judicial review cases with a requirement of ‘direct interest’ instead of the current ‘sufficient interest’.

Mark Elliot discusses the implication of such a decision and looks at the current criteria. Writing in defence of judicial review, he notes that ‘it is now fashionable to dress up everything in public law in the language of rights, administrative law is fundamentally not about individual rights: it is about public wrongs’. Further, whilst politicians often refer to judicial review as undemocratic because of the role of unelected judges, he argues that a true democracy calls for those who wield public power to be held to account.

David Blackburn, writing for The Spectator, agrees with Elliot that judicial review is actually about ‘the rule of law and representative democracy’ but does wonder whether there is a case for the system being a little tighter. This is due to what he calls the abuse of the system by politically motivated groups, ‘many of which do not bother with the representative system at any level; and are, therefore, unaccountable to everyone except themselves’.

Judicial Review is also up in the air in Scotland, where there has been a recommendation (which has been taken forward by the Scottish Government) that there also be a leave requirement and a three month time limit. Aileen McHarg analyses what the repercussions of this would be and concludes that ‘it is disappointing to see such an important change to judicial review in Scotland being undertaken on such a flimsy evidential basis’.

The Right to Die

Three cases revolving around the right to die were decided upon in the Court of Appeal this week (judgment here). Whilst the family of late locked in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson and paralysed road accident victim Paul Lamb (pictured) lost their right to die challenges, a third (represented by 1 Crown Office Row’s Philip Havers QC) won his case seeking clearer prosecution guidance for health workers who help others die. However, the Court of Appeal made it clear that with issues that involve life and death, Parliament represents ‘the conscience of the nation’ and that ‘judges, however eminent, do not: our responsibility is to discover the relevant legal principles and apply the law as we find it’.

Obiter J notes that Parliament has so far made no move to amend the Suicide Act 1961. It can even be seen to have affirmed the prohibition against assisted suicide by amending section 2 by the Coroners and Justice Act in 2009.

The UKHRB has  a post here on the issue.

Rally for Legal Aid speeches

Two interesting speeches made at the Rally for Legal Aid, one by Liberty’s Shami Chakrabarti and the other by comedian Josie Long, can be found here and here.

In other news

In the Courts

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