Badenoch: 'We will likely need to leave' the ECHR
Kemi Badenoch says she believes Britain will "likely need to leave" the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Delivering a speech on Friday, the Conservative leader said she was launching a review into Britain's membership of the treaty, which underpins human rights law.
"I have always said, that if we need to leave the convention, we should - and having now considered the question closely, I do believe that we will likely need to leave," she said.
But Badenoch insisted she was launching the review to prevent a similar situation to Brexit: "We saw that holding a referendum without a plan to get Brexit done, led to years of wrangling and endless arguments... We cannot go through that again," she told reporters.
The ECHR was a dividing issue in last year's Conservative leadership election, with Badenoch's rival Robert Jenrick championing the idea that Britain should pull out.
Critics of the treaty want to leave it because they believe it has been used to frustrate attempts to deport migrants from Britain.
Hitting out at the influence of the treaty on the British legal system, Badenoch said it has become a "sword used to attack democratic decisions and common sense".
"This use of litigation as a political weapon is what I am calling lawfare. It isn't just damaging our security, it's also damaging our prosperity", she told reporters.
The commission looking into leaving the ECHR will be led by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, the shadow attorney general.
Five 'common sense' questions will be asked by the investigation, branded a series of 'tests' by Mrs Badenoch.
These include whether the UK can 'lawfully remove foreign criminals and illegal migrants to their home country or elsewhere — even if they have family here or claim they could be at risk if sent home', and if the Government can stop veterans being 'pursued by vexatious legal attacks'.
The Commission will also look at whether British citizens receive preference ahead of migrants for 'scarce public services', if prison sentences 'actually reflect Parliament's intentions', and how to prevent 'endless legal challenges' to planning applications.
The Conservative leader will set out whether she plans to leave the ECHR at the Tory conference in October, when the investigation will report back.
Elsewhere, the head of the Council of Europe warned that rising migration may result in changes to how the ECHR operates.
Alain Berset, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, told The Times: 'We are witnessing a world where things are changing rapidly.
'It is accelerating. We see this, and it means that it is normal that we must also adapt to this. We need adaptation. We need discussion about the rules that we want to have, and there is no taboo.'
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