Britain is prepared to consider leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if Strasbourg judges block the Government’s plans to crack down on illegal migration, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has warned.
The Justice Secretary said the Government was committed to staying within the ECHR and would “strive every sinew” to remain within it but could not “rule out forever and a day the possibility that we might need to revisit our membership.”
He told the House of Lords Justice Committee that this would, however, depend on the “responsiveness” of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to Britain’s new legislation effectively barring migrants who arrive illegally from claiming asylum in the UK.
Ministers believe the legislation complies with the ECHR but have acknowledged the novel approach “pushes the boundaries of international law” and have a more than 50 per cent chance of breaching the UK’s obligations under the ECHR.
Ministers are preparing to take on the ECHR over the use of interim injunctions, such as the one which blocked the first deportation flight to Rwanda last June and has prevented any removals until all UK courts have ruled on the legality of the policy.
The legislation includes a “marker” clause allowing the Government to rewrite the rules so it could ignore the injunctions, known as Rule 39 if negotiations with the Strasbourg court fail to secure reforms to answer Britain’s concerns about them.
Mr Raab told the committee: “We are committed to staying within the ECHR but we’ve said if asked that we could not rule out forever and a day that we would have to revisit that position. But that would depend on the responsiveness of the Strasbourg court to the vital issues that we are trying to pursue in this country including stopping the small boats”.
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Mr Raab disclosed he had already met with senior Strasbourg judges to discuss UK concerns over interim injunctions, where a single unnamed judge in a late-night sitting last summer blocked the first deportation flight to Rwanda until the entire policy had been tested in the UK courts. It is currently before the appeal court.
Tory MPs are preparing to lay amendments to the illegal migration bill that would toughen the approach to the ECHR so that the Government could ignore interim injunctions and even wider rulings. However, they have accepted any debate about leaving the ECHR will have to be left for the manifesto.
Last week, Rishi Sunak warned lawyers preparing to challenge his illegal immigration crackdown that he is “up for the fight and will win”, as he accused the ECHR of being “opaque, unfair and unjust”. He made clear, however, he had no plans to leave the ECHR.
The illegal migration bill is expected to return to the Commons in two weeks’ time just before the Easter recess when the Government will face a backbench revolt over the detention of children.
