U.K. opposition calls for bill of rights

LONDON, June 26 (UPI) -- The leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party wants to replace the country's Human Rights Act with a U.S.-style bill of rights.

In a speech to the Center for Policy Studies in London on Monday, David Cameron said the existing system was playing into the hands of terrorists, "because the process is so complicated and time-consuming for the government," the BBC reported.

"I believe it is wrong to undermine public safety, and indeed public confidence in the concept of human rights, by allowing highly dangerous criminals and terrorists to trump the rights of the people of Britain to live in security and peace," Cameron said.

The Human Rights Act came into force in 2000 to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into British law so people did not have to take claims to the European courts in Strasbourg.

Political dissent was quick, with Attorney General Peter Goldsmith calling the suggestion "muddled, misconceived and dangerous" and Alex Carlile of the Liberal Democrats calling Cameron's ideas "extraordinarily ill-thought out proposals."