Avoiding another Brexit: the subsidiarity principle, the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Following a number of controversial judgments, the British government has been pushing for some time for a limitation of the supervisory powers of the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. On a British proposal, the member states of the Council of Europe agreed in 2012 to include a reference to the subsidiarity principle into the Preamble of the European Convention on Human Rights. This paper describes these developments and explores the possible role of subsidiarity considerations in the context of international human rights protection.

KEYWORDS:

• Subsidiarity
• European Court of Human Rights
• margin of appreciation
• United Kingdom
• Brexit

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.