On Thursday 23rd June, a referendum will be held on whether the United Kingdom remains in, or chooses to leave, the European Union.
This was a manifesto pledge I was pleased to stand on at the 2015 general election and of course there are now only a few weeks until the whole country gets to decide on this issue.
A further pledge was to introduce a British Bill of Rights to replace the existing so-called Human Rights Act, brought in almost two decades ago.
This Bill of Rights will be based on established human rights while also taking into consideration our Common Law tradition – and making clear where the balance should lie between the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and British courts.
The current system has been too open to abuse. British judges should decide how to interpret the law – and Parliament must decide what the law is.
The Bill of Rights will continue to protect fundamental human rights, and would restore common sense to their application. It will restore some credibility by better protecting the system from abuse.
Our country has a long and great history of standing up for the rights of individuals over the state – a history that in fact goes back further than the formation of the United Kingdom.
It would be wrong to think of the inalienable concept of human rights as being the same as the Human Rights Act brought in under Tony Blair in 1998.
Going from Magna Carta in 1215, to the Bill of Rights in 1689 and through the extension of suffrage in the 19th and 20th centuries our country will continue to promote rights and freedoms both at home and abroad.