Britain’s justice secretary Alex Chalk has confirmed that the British government will not go ahead with its controversial Bill of Rights Bill.

The Law Society Gazette of England and Wales said that the announcement in the House of Commons had ended weeks of speculation about its potential demise.

The proposed legislation would have given British courts supremacy over rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, and introduced a new permission stage for human rights challenges.

The Law Society of England and Wales had previously argued that the measure would “damage the rule of law and make it harder for people to protect their rights”.

Raab departure

Chalk told MPs: “Having carefully considered the government’s legislative programme in the round, I can inform the house that we have decided not to proceed with the bill of rights.”

The bill was introduced last summer in parliament, but had only cleared its first reading in the Commons. Despite the return of Dominic Raab (pictured) – a passionate advocate for the measure – as Lord Chancellor under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the bill continued to stall.

Once Raab was replaced with Chalk earlier this year, the legislation appeared all but dead, according to the Gazette.

Raab had introduced the measure in his first spell as Lord Chancellor in Boris Johnson’s administration.