(611)  HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION BUT NO COMMISSIONER

On 2 November 2006 the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill completed its rather shoogly parliamentary progress at Holyrood.  The end result is a Human Rights Commission rather than a Commissioner, with a five-person commission (members being either full or part-time) rather than a Commissioner.  The Bill was controversial from the start, with Lord McCluskey amongst its most prominent critics (see previously No 78 for his views on human rights).  While the overt worry was about cost, the real anxiety amongst MSPs was probably the prospective power of the Commissioner to tell public bodies what they had to do to comply with Convention rights.  It will be interesting to see which public-spirited individuals put themselves up as prospective members of the Commission, given the troubled background to its foundation.