Q & A on a Bill of Rights..

Will we have a written bill of rights, with gurantees such as freedom of speech?

Absolutely. That really is the whole point of the written constitution. The proper model of government, to my mind, is that of reasonable people contracting with each other for their mutual advantage so that everyone can live in peace and freedom. A constitution must mark out the freedoms that will be accorded to everyone as its most important section.

There are a number of bill of rights of differing types around the world and my first thoughts were a simple incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights which has a sophisticated jurisprudence to back it up. But then really that might be the problem. Coming from a continental tradition, the ECHR has safeguards built into all the rights which, whilst appearing reasonable, to my mind water down all the liberties so they then start to look like a code of ethics or rules for good behaviour.

No. I want freedoms of a more thorough going kind.