I understand that the Scottish Government has submitted detailed evidence to the United Kingdom independent human rights act review and will strongly oppose any attempt to weaken the Human Rights Act 1998. Rather than ripping up the 1998 act, a move that has been criticised by Amnesty International UK and that academics have warned could undermine Northern Ireland’s historic peace agreement, what actions does the First Minister think that the UK Government should take instead, in relation to human rights?

The Human Rights Act 1998, in combination with the Scotland Act 1998, is hugely important in protecting fundamental civil and political rights. The Scottish Government will robustly oppose any attempt to weaken those long-standing safeguards and I fear that the review has been established by the UK Government to do exactly that. Our submission to the review also makes it clear that there should be no changes to the 1998 act without the express consent of the Scottish Parliament. My strong preference would be for the UK Government to follow Scotland’s example but, as a minimum, it should give a firm commitment to maintaining the existing protections provided by the 1998 act and to ensuring full compliance with the European convention on human rights.