Prince Charles not impressed with Human Rights Act

Mar 2, 2006, 15:16 GMT

Britain's Prince Charles allegedly scrawled 'Rubbish' on a Government letter about the Human Rights Act.

In 2001, the royal warned the legislation - which was passed in 2000 - would lead to a significant increase in legal claims.

He was particularly concerned about a potential rise in claims from the Armed Forces and the police.

The then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, wrote to Charles defending the legislation.

The letter said: 'There is in fact scant hard evidence that people overall are more litigious.'

It added: 'There has been no upward trend in the work of the civil courts over recent years.'

But Charles - who is Colonel-in-Chief of more than 20 regiments - wrote 'Rubbish' on the note, according to Britain's The Sun newspaper.

He wrote: 'Lord Irvine should know the aspects of this legislation which are causing problems.

'He may find it more difficult to conceive of, but it is becoming a society that is less conscious of individual responsibility.'

In 2002, Charles wrote a second missive - which has been obtained by Britain's The Times newspaper - saying: 'The Human Rights Act is only about the rights of individuals (I am unable to find a list of social responsibilities attached to it) and this betrays a fundamental distortion in social and legal thinking.'

The letter also revealed the prince had raised the issues with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

It said: 'As the prime minister has warned me, I am sure you will not agree with much of this, but I should welcome the chance to talk through these issues with you privately in more detail when we next have the chance to meet.'

Copyright 2006 BANG Media International