Can’t comment too much on your main points, youngmafbog. However, your contention that scrapping the HRA would alleviate this problem is misplaced.
The 1998 HRA simply incorporated into UK law the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This convention was drawn up after WW2 largely to prevent the excessive oppression of its citizens by an over-zealous State. Until the HRA was passed into UK law people who sought protection under the ECHR had to pursue the matter via the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Now the matter can be dealt with in the UK courts so it could be argued that, far from enriching m’Learned Friends even further, it actually cuts the work they are required to undertake.
The ECHR (and hence our own HRA) is deliberately vague and open to a wide interpretation by the courts. It has also, in recent years, become almost the sole preserve of criminals and immigrants (both legal and illegal). I cannot recall too many cases of law abiding home grown citizens seeking the protection it provides. Of course its supporters would suggest that is because they are treated differently and so don’t need it.
Simply scrapping our own 1998 HRA would still leave us bound by the ECHR. All members of the Council of Europe are required to be signatories to the ECHR and it is a condition of membership of the EU. To withdraw from the ECHR would require the UK to cease its membership of both those bodies and since that is unlikely in the extreme, I’m afraid we’re stuck with it.