The former Attorney General, Mr Dominic Grieve QC MP, spoke at a 'Britain in Europe' event on February 29, addressing a large audience of students and staff at Brunel University London.
In his speech, the MP for Beaconsfiled, who was the Government's top legal adviser between 2010 and 2014, highlighted the significant risks of departing from the European Convention on Human Rights:
'We would be ignoring the reason we signed up to it in the first place: to try and make the world a better and more predictable place. If we abandon it we would be approving anarchy on the international stage', he said at an interview given to the Solicitors Journal after the event.
The former Attorney General also argued that it might be time to consider a written Constitution - compatible with the ECHR - for the UK:
'It's not a panacea but it might provide greater opportunity for greater clarity, certainty, and understanding as to the way power is distributed and used in our country,' said Grieve.
The proposals led to some interesting reactions on Twitter:
Grieve also used this opportunity to reflect on developments with the EU referendum, commenting that the Sovereignty Bill appeared to be a last ditch attempt to convince the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the justice secretary, Michael Gove, to back the prime minister's campaign to keep Britain in the EU, and these attempts had obviously failed.
'When you talk about sovereignty and the EU, it is completely meaningless', he explained. We enacted legislation in the last parliament that said European law only applies by virtue of parliament allowing it to do so, which was a statement of the blindingly obvious'.
Britain in Europe will be working closely with Dominic Grieve on issues surrounding Brexit and the ECHR:
BiE founder, Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, said about this development:
‘We are delighted to see the former Attorney General take an interest in our think tank, and very excited that we will be able to count on his invaluable support with research and public engagement activities around current plans to repeal the Human Rights Act and human rights repercussions from a potential departure from the EU'.
For BiE comment on this story and contributions on debates around the Bill of Rights, ECHR or the EU referendum contact us at bie@brunel.ac.uk and @brineurope