Dear Prime Minister...

As the general election approaches, UCL staff and students share their wishlist for policies from the next government affecting a range of aspects of life, from human rights and science to crime, the environment, and more. Make human rights part of public culture. The next government needs to approach human rights afresh, introducing them into the public culture of British society. The amazing constitutional achievement of the Human Rights Act 2000, by the then Labour government, needs to be defended against continual trashing in the media through a programme of public education. The relevance of the rights in the Act as the rights of all citizens needs to be brought home, and the relevance of human rights in general needs to be demonstrated by expanding the existing list to include rights relevant to people in their everyday lives. This means bringing in economic and social rights and protections worthy of a civilised society. 'Bigger society' is pointless unless it shows concern for and protects every one of its members.