New measures to reduce the number of cases heard in the European Court of Human Rights have been agreed, in a bid to free the court up to focus on the most serious violations of human rights.

The reforms have been agreed by the 47 member states of the Council of Europe, with the Brighton Declaration published online today (20 April).

The reforms will see the European Convention on Human Rights rewritten to tighten the admissibility criteria so that fewer cases will be heard in the court.

The reforms will also see the court take into account the 'margin of appreciation' concept, which will allow the Convention to be interpreted differently in different member states, taking into account varying national cultures.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve said: "This Declaration makes clear that the primary responsibility for guaranteeing human rights rests with the government, parliament and courts of a country.

"It sets out clearly that the Court should not routinely overturn the decisions made by national authorities – and it should respect different solutions and different approaches between states as being legitimate."

The UK Government has pushed heavily for reforms of the court while chairing the Council of Europe, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying that court is being "swamped with an endless backlog of cases" and that it should not "act as a small claims court".

Cameron added that the court "should not undermine its own reputation by going over national decisions unnecessarily".

Speaking at the conference in Brighton today (20 April), Justice Minister Ken Clarke (pictured) said: "These changes should mean fewer cases being considered by the court. Those that it considers should be allegations of serious violations or major points of interpretation of the Convention and will be processed without the scandalous delays we are seeing at present."