The justice minister said his proposals would prevent freedom of speech and democratic debate from being “restricted” by “desolation and political correctness”. The government’s plan to replace the landmark Human Rights Act with a new UK Bill of Rights – currently under consultation – would better protect media freedom, Raab said. The senior minister said that freedom of speech should be given “a different status in the order of rights”. Mr Raab told the Daily Mail: “Essentially, freedom of speech will be given the equivalent of a trump card in a number of areas.” He said: “The impetus will be to ensure that when we balance rights, whether it is the right to freedom of speech and the right to privacy or other rights, we ensure that the greatest importance and weight is given to freedom of speech. ” Despite the promised changes, Mr Raab said controls would remain on freedom of speech to prevent incitement to violence or the promotion of terrorism. “We will continue to fight those who try to use either the media or freedom of speech to incite violence, radicalize terrorists or threaten children. “All these safeguards will exist,” he said. Mr Raab said: “But we must be able to strengthen the freedom of speech, the freedom that protects all our other freedoms, and to stop being secretly restricted, sometimes without realizing it. “I feel very strongly that the parameters of freedom of speech and democratic debate are being restricted, either because of the issue of privacy or because of concern and political correctness.” He added: “So it will have a different position in the order of rights and I think it will help a lot in protecting the freedom of speech of this country and our history, which has always strongly defended freedom of speech.” Mr Raab also told the newspaper that the UK Declaration of Rights would make deportation mandatory for all foreign criminals imprisoned for at least a year. The Telegraph, meanwhile, reports that as part of a broader reform of parole procedures, Mr Raab is set to take over power to bypass the Parole Board when it comes to releasing dangerous criminals from prison. Following the public outcry over the decision to release double child killer and rapist Colin Pitchfork from prison.
