DPP views 'stray into politics'

Mr Starmer defended the Human Rights Act

The Conservatives have accused the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of exceeding his role and straying on to political ground.

Keir Starmer used a lecture to deliver a stinging attack on the party's proposal to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.

He dismissed Tory claims the act puts the rights of criminals first.

Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said their plan was a "better balance" and it was for MPs to decide.

The Conservatives have said they will abolish the act if they are elected, replacing it with a bill of rights to "enable the UK to rebalance laws in favour of public protection".

"The Human Rights Act is not the only way to implement human rights in Britain," Mr Grieve said.

BBC political correspondent Alicia McCarthy said many Conservatives would be angered by Mr Starmer's intervention believing he has moved away from his remit and into the realm of politics and comment.

But Justice Secretary Jack Straw backed the DPP.

"What Mr Starmer has said underlines what Dominic Grieve knows but daren't say: that Tory plans make no sense at all," he said.

"The Tories' dogmatic opposition to the Human Rights Act makes a mockery of their claims to be progressive."

'Flawed analysis'

Delivering the annual Public Prosecution Service lecture in London, Mr Starmer said the Human Rights Act was not a "criminals' charter".

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

He said the rights enshrined in the act were "basic, fundamental, and so much part of our way of life that we take them for granted".

He added: "Contrary to what appears to be a widely-held, but ill-informed, view, human rights do not magically appear when a suspect is stopped on the street; or is arrested; or is charged; or is prosecuted; or when they appear in court..."

He told the audience that the fundamental rights of a suspect such as the right to a fair trial were clear.

Mr Starmer said the act ensured the state had mechanisms in place to protect people from crime.

He added: "It would be to this country's shame if we lost the clear and basic statement of our citizens' human rights provided by the Human Rights Act on the basis of a fundamentally flawed analysis of their origin and relevance to our society."