Human Rights
Cameron warns ECHR that it is becoming 'a small claims court'
After recounting The UK's commitment to human rights over the years, David Cameron has warned that the concept of human rights was being "distorted" - and even "discredited" - by controversial decisions in Europe. He also bemoaned the huge backlog of cases facing the ECHR and the miniscule cases which were not worthy of the Court.
Addressing the small claims he He gave the example of an individual whose complaint was that his busy trip from Bucharest to Madrid "hadn't been as comfortable as advertised".
"In effect that gives an extra bite of the cherry to anyone who is dissatisfied with a domestic ruling, even where that judgement is reasonable, well-founded, and in line with the convention.
"I completely understand the court's belief that a national decision must be properly made, but in the end, I believe that where an issue like this has been subjected to proper, reasoned democratic debate and has also met with detailed scrutiny by national courts in line with the convention, the decision made at a national level should be treated with respect."
The BBC's deputy political editor James Landale said it was likely to be a slow process as the UK had to get the unanimous backing of the 47 member states. It only holds the Council of Europe presidency until May.
But Attorney General Dominic Grieve told the BBC he believed the chances of getting reform were "extremely good" because there was widespread backing for the UK's proposals.
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