Claim against the UK government taken to the European Court of Human Rights

Some background. Sorry I can’t do links.

The UK government has been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond to a number of ‘credible allegations’ brought by a group of cross-party MPs over alleged Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and Alyn Smith of the Scottish National Party (SNP) have lodged a claim with the Strasbourg court after the High Court in London rejected the case in 2021.

They say the failure of the Government to investigate “credible allegations” of interference in the UK electoral system, or to have in place a “legislative and policy framework that will identify and protect against interference in the UK electoral system”, breaches its obligations under Article 3 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights – which protects the right to free and fair elections.
In a letter to the group of MPs, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has accepted the claim through the first stage of the court’s process and says it now requires the UK Government to respond to five questions by the end of April.

The questions include whether the complaints made fall within Article 3 of Protocol 1, whether there is an implicit duty on states to investigate allegations of interference in their elections, and whether the MPs can claim to be victims of the alleged breaches.

They also claim Boris Johnson unlawfully failed to act following a report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which found the Government was “slow to recognise the existence of the threat”.

In a statement on the latest development in the ECtHR case, Bradshaw said: “A number of us have been warning about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s real intent for more than 10 years.

“We know that his long-term strategy has been to destabilise and divide western democracies and nothing that’s happened in recent British history has done more to destabilise Europe, and Britain’s relationship with it, than Brexit.

The London Economic

Some background. Sorry I can’t do links.

That's OK, Wwmk2. I did some in the OP

I'm really surprised that no-one is taking any interest in this.. Free and fair elections are the very heart of the democratic process.

Not to mention that this case has a direct bearing on the most catastrophic political decision the electorate has made in my lifetime.

MaizieD I think that the problem might be that the posts and the video are so long. People aren't reading it and and aren't watching the video.

Any chance of summarising the situation?

It's not exactly a situation that can be summarised in a few sentences. I tried to make the post title such as to catch people's attention and posted a short extract from an article which explains the title in my OP.

We have a considerable number of well educated posters on this forum; they can hardly have attained their degrees by reading only highly condensed materials on their subject.

I know I asked them to watch the video before posting, clearly that was a mistake. But experience tells me that folks are quite capable of commenting without going into the background of a topic.

I can only come to the conclusion that the manipulation of our democracy doesn't interest them.

Even educated posters won't read a post that doesn't tell them what its about.

Government taken to court by MPs over Russian links?

I made the suggestion so that your post gets more attention. I won't bother again.

Can't alter the title now, I'm afraid but thanks for your suggestion.

I'm not offended, just was puzzled/disappointed at lack of interest. I've seen much worse thread titles get loads of interest... (if only to criticise the thread title )

MaizieD I don't think that people aren't interested. I think it's because you, followed by Wwmk2 have explained the topic clearly and the majority will agree with you. The only arguments against would be from the pro-Russians, a few of whom raised their heads in another thread, and even they wouldn't be silly enough to claim that Russia had not interfered.

Thank you for reminding us about it.

Thanks, Dinahmo.

I worry so much about the undermining of democracy that has been taking place over the past few years, both by foreign interference and the sidelining of Parliament by Johnson and Sunak. What are we leaving for our children and grandchildren...

MaizieD

Thanks, Dinahmo.

I worry so much about the undermining of democracy that has been taking place over the past few years, both by foreign interference and the sidelining of Parliament by Johnson and Sunak. What are we leaving for our children and grandchildren...

Not to mention the recent attempt to block the democratic, cross party supported bill on GRA as passed by the Scottish Government. justified by references to 'UK Law' when since the Treaty of Union, wherein it is agreed that there would always be English Law and Scottish Law. Treaty broken yet again.

We must try to ensure that we have a different party in power after the next GE. I've noticed on here that several Brexit supporters have changed their minds. The same is happening on talk programmes like LBC. My conclusion is that continuing to discuss political topics might cause a few more minds to be changed.

More broadly, I hope the Court of Human Rights will continue to exercise jurisdiction in the UK and that the Tories don't seek to ditch it. Fortunately it is a Council of Europe institution, not EU, and thus untouched by the Brexit fiasco supported by Johnson.