Tories launch review into withdrawing from ECHR

Tories launch review into withdrawing from ECHR

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is to establish a commission to consider whether the UK should withdraw from various international treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and amend domestic laws that some in the party believe are restricting government action.

The commission is expected to be chaired by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, a former justice minister, and is due to report by the Conservative Party conference in the autumn.

The move follows government proposals to “clarify” the ECHR’s influence over UK immigration cases. The convention, signed in 1950 and binding on 46 countries, underpins much of the UK’s human rights framework and has in recent years been cited in cases blocking deportations and allowing certain asylum claims, including one by a Palestinian family originally applying under a Ukraine scheme.

During the Tory leadership contest, Badenoch described leaving the ECHR as no “silver bullet” for immigration reform, but in February she said the UK would “probably have to leave” if the convention continued to obstruct government policy.

The Wolfson review will examine the ECHR’s impact on asylum and deportation cases, as well as the Refugee Convention. It is also expected to consider domestic legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Climate Change Act 2008.

Senior Conservatives have expressed concern about the growing influence of what they term “lawfare” – the use of legal mechanisms to block or delay policy – which they argue hampers governments from enacting change.

In its recent immigration white paper, the government proposed new legislation asserting Parliament’s authority over border control. The paper referenced Article 8 of the ECHR – the right to family life – and called for a rebalancing between individual rights and the public interest.

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