MARTIN HOWE Q.C.
This is my personal home page. For
information about my professional activities as a barrister, please
refer to the website at my Chambers:
www.8newsquare.co.uk
Current activities
- Suporting reform of human rights law
through the scrapping of the Human Rights Act 1998, its replacement by
a new Bill of Rights and
Responsibilities which will reaffirm our historic rights and liberties
and incorporate the text of the European Convention of Human Rights
into
UK law, but will de-couple its interpretation from the judgments of the
European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg.
Unfortunately in the 60 years since the Convention was drafted, this
Court has gone far beyond
its job of interpreting the Convention by creating new judge-made
doctrines which do not exist in the actual
wording of the Convention itself. I supported these reforms at a debate
organised by the Institute of
Ideas on 6 October 2014 (Podcast.)
I worked on reform of human rights laws as member of the Coalition
Government's Commission
on a Bill of Rights for the UK, which reported
at the end of 2012 with a majority recommendation for a UK Bill of
Rights.
I was previously a member of the Conservative Party's Commission to
create a Bill of Rights (and Responsibilities) for the United Kingdom,
which was established after David Cameron's speech of 26 June 2006,
"Balancing freedom and security - A modern British Bill of
Rights".
I have spoken on numerous occasions in support of replacing
the
Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights. At The Times/Matrix
Chambers Debate
(More info on the Debate ...),
speaking in favour of the motion were David Davis MP, myself and Andy
Hayman, former head of Counter-Terrorism at Scotland Yard. We were
opposed by Cherie Booth QC, Rabinder Singh QC and Shami Chakrabarti.
I explained some of my ideas on what the new Bill of Rights can
achieve and how it can improve on the present Human Rights Act 1998 in
"The case for a British Bill of Rights"
published by the Conservative Liberty Forum.
- Working to limit and reduce the
excessive powers of the EU. Now the referendum is giving us the vital
choice on EU membership, I am trying to inform the debate through
the campaign group Lawyers for
Britain of which I am chairman. My ideas on the principles which
should be adopted for renegotiation of our relationship with the EU
were published by
Politeia in
"Zero Plus: The Principles of EU Renegotiation". My
paper explaining how a Soveignty Bill would work to protect the UK's
constitution was published by Politeia in January
2010 and was explained in an article
I wrote in The Wall Street Journal Europe. This proposal was taken up
by William Hague and incorporated in law as Section 18 of the European
Union Act 2011 which makes clear that Parliament has ultimate control
over whether EU law applies within the United Kingdom.
My evidence to the House of Lords sub-committee enquiring into
the
Lisbon Treaty's impact on the area of "freedom, security and justice"
is available from
the House of Lords website.
- I chaired the
Courts and Sentencing Policy Group of the Centre for Social Justice
and launched
our group's report
with Iain Duncan Smith MP.
This major report,
"Order
in the Courts: restoring faith through local justice"
criticised the Labour Government's over-centralisation of the criminal
justice system and its torrent of legislation, and called for a much
more locally accountable system of justice in which offenders can be
dealt with more effectively.
(See Executive
Summary of the Report).
Political publications
For a selection of my publications on political and
constitutional issues, see Publications.
Recent publications are on the subjects of the EU and our constitution,
criminal justice and sentencing, how to safeguard our civil liberties
through a new Bill of Rights for the United Kingdom, human rights and
terrorism, and the ever growing threat to our ability to make our own
laws from the expanding powers of the European Union.
Legal Publications
Please click here for a
selection of my legal publications, articles and lectures.