Mr Cameron called the court ruling ‘offensive’ A commission to investigate a British Bill of Rights will be set up “imminently”, David Cameron has said.
He told MPs it was about time decisions were made in Parliament, not in courts.
The Conservatives had wanted to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a UK Bill of Rights but that was opposed by their Lib Dem coalition partners.
Instead a commission is being set up to look into it. Last week MPs rejected a European Court of Human Rights ruling on giving prisoners the vote.
The vote, prompted by Tory backbencher David Davis and former Labour home secretary Jack Straw, was not binding but could put pressure on ministers to go against the Strasbourg court’s ruling.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Mr Cameron responded to Tory MP Phillip Davies who complained about a ruling that sex offenders could appeal against having to register with the police for life.
Mr Cameron told MPs Mr Davies “speaks for many people when he says how completely offensive it is to have once again a ruling by a court that seems to fly completely in the face of common sense”.
He added: “The commission we are establishing to look at a British bill of rights will be established imminently because I think it’s about time we started making sure decisions are made in this Parliament rather than in the courts.”
BBC deputy political editor James Landale said it was unlikely to lead to Britain pulling out of the European human rights legislation, but the commission might look at how the laws were interpreted and whether there should be a different balance between rights – for example making public safety more important than the right of offenders to a private life.
Home Secretary Theresa May said Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Justice Secretary Ken Clarke would be giving more details shortly.
But she told MPs the commission would “investigate the creation of a British bill of rights”.
“It is time to assert that it is Parliament that makes our laws, not the courts that the rights of the public come before the rights of criminals and above all that we have a legal framework that brings sanity to cases such as these.”
The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated the rights enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law.
These include the right to life, the right to family, freedom from torture and the right to a fair trial.
But critics say the act makes it harder for British courts to extradite criminals and has also led the current controversies over prisoners being able to vote and sex offenders having the right to appeal to get their name removed from the sex offenders register.
The coalition deal says the commission will look into a British Bill of Rights “that incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in British law, and protects and extends British liberties”.
The Conservatives’ policy on having a British bill of rights with priority over European human rights laws was put forward by then shadow home secretary David Davis in 2005.
Labour had looked at having a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities as the basis of a written constitution – the then Justice Secretary Jack Straw believed a written statement of “common values” would help social cohesion.
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