DAILY MAIL COMMENT: If only we could be rid of Strasbourg, too

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT

Published: | Updated:

At last! After a decade of legal wrangling, costing taxpayers £4million, the  European Court of Human Rights finally gives its gracious permission for Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects to be deported to face trial in the U.S.

Forgive us if we restrain our cheers – and not only because the court insists the five must remain here for three more months, to give them the chance to appeal.

For the truth is there’s a whiff of low political expediency about this rare burst  of common sense from Strasbourg.

It is time we were rid of The European Court of Human Rights' interference in British justice

It is time we were rid of The European Court of Human Rights' interference in British justice

Leave aside how risible and wrong it would have been if judges from Albania and Montenegro, with their notoriously insanitary prisons, had ruled that America’s jails breached human rights. For when has the fear of ridicule ever stopped the court from passing judgments that defy reason?

No, more worrying for the judges would have been their fear of the backlash if they had blocked the extradition.

As they are well aware, David Cameron would then have faced huge pressure to ignore their ruling or even to withdraw Britain from the ECHR’s jurisdiction.

It would certainly have stiffened his  resolve to clip the court’s wings, in the last month of this country’s presidency of the Council of Europe.

But let nobody suppose the ruling marks an awakening of  humility in Strasbourg, which continues to block the deportation of Al Qaeda hate preacher Abu Qatada  to Jordan. It is also preparing final judgment on whether the UK should give prisoners the vote, against the wishes of parliament and people.

On neither issue do the judges show any sign of backing down.
Indeed, yesterday’s decision bears all the hallmarks of a tactical retreat before a renewed power-grab by Strasbourg.

Yes, the Mail will be delighted to see the back of Hamza. We would be even more thrilled to be rid of the ECHR’s interference in British justice.

Classroom vandals

Forget that for years, Britain has been plunging down the international league tables in science and maths. Never mind that a quarter of 11-year-olds are unable  to read or add up properly.

To listen to teachers’ unions, you would think nothing needed changing about a state education system that has been letting children down for decades.

Indeed, one conference speaker after another  has attacked every Government attempt to raise standards, while demanding that teachers be spared any sacrifices over the debt crisis.

Our state education system has been letting children down for years

Our state education system has been letting children down for years

One union, the NUT, has backed strikes over pay, pensions, academies, free schools and Ofsted inspections, even threatening a boycott of phonics reading tests.

Now it threatens action in defence of ‘essential’ six-week summer holidays.

The arrogance is breathtaking, from a workforce so pampered that only 17 teachers have been struck off for incompetence over the past decade.

The Mail has great respect for the many inspirational teachers who put their pupils’ interests above all else. But, yet again, their unions are dragging the whole profession into disrepute.

Losing his reason?

David Cameron declares that ‘anyone who is reasonable’ will back Ken Clarke’s plans for secret justice.

Does this mean that everyone who has studied the proposals is unreasonable – from a joint Parliamentary committee to civil liberties groups, relatives of fallen soldiers and even Special Advocates who would have to operate the system?

Isn’t it a worrying sign of self-delusion when the Prime Minister believes he’s one of only half a dozen reasonable people in the country?