Much of the ‘nonsense on stilts’ surrounding the Human Rights Act (HRA) in this country is generated by politicians and the media, Britain’s equality chief has said.

In an article in The Sunday Times, Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, attacks the ‘popular narrative’ that human rights apply exclusively to prisoners who want the right to vote or have porn magazines brought to their cells, or rapists and murderers seeking to avoid deportation.

‘Many of the so-called outrages are nothing of the sort, and often the judgments in question have nothing to do with human rights law,’ Phillips says. ‘Nobody can really explain how some social problems - from bad manners in public to last summer’s riots - are down to the HRA as opposed to, say, poor parenting.’

Phillips points to the decision by the National Secular Society to use the HRA to try and stop councillors saying prayers before council meetings as an example of ‘people (who) have just lost the ‘plot’. He said: ‘This is nonsense on stilts.’

He added: ‘I was delighted that the prime minister has asked us to work with the government to tackle some of the misconceptions about, and yes, the abuses of, human rights law. And as the prime minister has said, human rights should not be used or twisted to prevent public servant doing things which protect and serve the public.

‘Human rights will always have a role to play in defending the marginalised, the people who do not find defenders elsewhere. This is what our forefathers in the human rights movement would have wanted, and is no less than this seminal legislation deserves.’