This week most eyes have been rightly fixed on the devolution power grab planned by the Tories to secure their post Brexit internal market. However, at the same time, SNP MPs have been working hard to find out what the Tories have in store for human rights protections in their new Brexitopia. The Tory manifesto which was so roundly rejected by voters in Scotland contained a promise to “update the Human Rights Act and administrative law to ensure that there is a proper balance between the rights of individuals, our vital national security and effective government.” 

Be in no doubt that these seemingly innocuous words are the signal that Boris Johnson plans to take revenge for the pasting he got from the UK Supreme court in the prorogation case. 

Later today I will be taking part in the online annual Human Rights conference organised by the all-party campaign group Justice and joining a panel reflecting on a keynote address by Sandie Okoro, the General Counsel and Senior Vice President of the World Bank. She will talk about her journey from black schoolgirl in South London to law school and a stellar global career in legal and financial services. Naturally, she will talk about the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The stark reality of the difference between black lives and white lives in the UK was brought to our attention again earlier this week when English athlete and Commonwealth Games medallist Bianca Williams accused the Metropolitan Police of racial profiling after the car in which she was travelling was stopped and searched  while she and her partner were handcuffed. After initially robustly defending their officers the Metropolitan police have climbed down and reported themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct and Ms Williams has received an apology.  

In a speech last weekend, Michael Gove urged a radical post-Brexit revamp of Whitehall to make it “less southern, less middle class”.  He called for innovation and experimentation in policymaking and criticised those in the establishment who consider ‘that any departure from the status quo must be assumed to be more downside than upside’.  He went on to say that had these establishment bodies ‘been able to interrogate George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton in 1783 they would have concluded that American Independence was an expensive, untried and unjustifiable innovation……they would have said it was novel and contentious and therefore it should be stopped.’ 

Well bravo, Michael Gove.  I look forward to quoting his words back at him next time he pours scorn on those of us who support Scottish Independence! 

The fourth anniversary of the 2016 Brexit referendum passed earlier this week, with little fanfare.  Even the most zealous Tories seemed reluctant to celebrate given the double whammy coming at the British economy with the economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus crisis due to be significantly exacerbated when Brexit finally takes effect at the end of the transition period on 31 December. 

Already Brexit has cost the British economy dear. According to Bloomberg Economics Brexit will have cost the UK more than £200 billion in lost economic growth by the end of this year. This means that Brexit is on course to cost the UK more than its combined total of payments to the EU budget over the past 47 years. But hey who cares? It’s worth it for a blue passport even if you can’t go anywhere because Britain is the sick man of Europe owing to Boris Johnson’s incompetent handling of the Coronavirus crisis.