A favourite nostrum of several candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party, and hence for prime minister, is to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It has populist appeal, and falls within the general post-Brexit tendency on the right to rubbish everything with the word “European” in it. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said as much when the European Court of Human Rights blocked the deportation of several asylum seekers to Rwanda last month, the British courts having given the go-ahead.
The legality of the deportations is still to be determined. The British judges were persuaded that the deportations could be reversed if legal challenges were upheld, and the refugees flown back to Britain. The Strasbourg court disagreed, saying the legal validity of the deportations needed to be established first.
19 July 2022, The Tablet
UK needs European court of human rights
A necessary safeguard
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