BRITAIN is already setting a “dangerous precedent” to the world by “undermining” human rights, Amnesty said yesterday, with Tory plans to scrap the Human Rights Act still in the pipeline.

The rights charity’s annual report included a stern reproach to Prime Minister David Cameron’s government for spying on the records of rights groups and undermining their work.

The Foreign Office admitted last year that human rights are no longer a “top priority” for the government.

Amnesty UK director Kate Allen said: “The UK is setting a dangerous precedent to the world on human rights.

“There’s no doubt that the downgrading of human rights by this government is a gift to dictators the world over and fatally undermines our ability to call on other countries to uphold rights and laws.

“People around the world are still fighting to get basic human rights and we should not let politicians take our hard-won rights away with the stroke of a pen.”

The group also criticised the government for its lack of action on the growing refugee crisis and for its proposed Big Brother-style new surveillance laws. And it said that Britain’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia are complying with human-rights violations and in particular an unsanctioned war on Yemen.

According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade, more than £2.8 billion worth of arms licences were issued to Saudi Arabia by the British government since the bombardment of Yemen began last March.

Campaign spokesman Andrew Smith told the Star: “There is a rank and poisonous hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy.

“Government ministers routinely pat themselves on the back and claim to hold the highest standards at the same time as they are arming and supporting some of the most repressive regimes in the world.

“UK fighter jets and bombs have been central to the destruction of Yemen, and yet the arms sales have continued.

“Not only does this bolster the Saudi regime but the message it sends to the people of Yemen is that their lives are of less importance than arms company profits.”

The campaign is currently threatening the government with legal action over arms exports to governments in breach of international human-rights law.