Overview

The government promised an inquiry into its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and significantly cut a welfare benefit received by 6 million people. The rights of refugees and migrants were routinely violated. A new policing bill seriously endangered the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and non-discrimination. A bill on judicial review and a review of the Human Rights Act caused concern. Certain areas of Northern Ireland still lacked adequate access to abortion. Accountability for past violations in Northern Ireland and for UK complicity in the US-led secret detention programme remained unrealized. A court decision blocking Julian Assange’s extradition to the USA was overturned on appeal. Detention conditions in Scotland fell below necessary standards.