POLL – Should Rishi Sunak push for the UK to leave the ECHR?

Emily Thornberry slams Government over ECHR debate

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to curb migration, after being warned that 65,000 illegal migrants are expected to come to the country this year. So do you think the UK should leave the ECHR? Vote in our poll.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is said to have drawn up plans to crack down on illegal immigration, but if the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled such legislation unlawful the UK could consider leaving the convention.

The Sunday Times reported a source familiar with Sunak’s thinking as saying: “This bill will go as far as possible within international law. We are pushing the boundaries of what is legally possible, while staying within the ECHR. And we are confident that when it is tested in the courts, we will win.

“But if this legislation gets onto the statute book and is found to be lawful by our domestic courts, but it is still being held up in Strasbourg, then we know the problem is not our legislation or our courts. If that’s the case, then of course he will be willing to reconsider whether being part of the ECHR is in the UK’s long-term interests.”

Sources have added that this nuclear option would be unlikely to occur before the next election but withdrawal would be central to the Conservative Party manifesto.

Former cabinet minister Simon Clarke said that considering withdrawal was “completely right”. He said: “It is a fundamental question of trust and competence that we should very significantly curb illegal immigration into the UK. We hear a great deal about how the UK played a key role in drawing up the convention, but the issues now being litigated under the ECHR were not in contemplation post world war II. Our human rights architecture is being abused by criminals to endanger the lives of desperate people.”

Tory chair of the Commons justice committee, Sir Bob Neill, warned of a backlash, telling the Financial Times: “If Conservatives don’t believe in the rule of law, what do we believe in? Are we going to put ourselves in the same company as Russia and Belarus?”

So what do YOU think? Should the Prime Minister push for the UK to leave the ECHR? Vote in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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