Badenoch to launch review examining whether UK should pull out of ECHR
The commission will examine whether Britain should pull out of a series of agreements, it is understood.
It comes ahead of a speech Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch is expected to make on Friday.
The ECHR was a dividing issue in last year's Conservative leadership election, with Mrs Badenoch's rival Robert Jenrick championing the idea that Britain should pull out.
Mrs Badenoch has stopped short of calling for the UK to leave, but in February she suggested that the UK would 'probably' have to withdraw from the convention if it stops the country from doing 'what is right'.
She told a London event: 'When it comes to the ECHR, I have always been very clear that the ECHR should not stop us from doing what is right for the people of this country and what is right in our national interest.
'And if it continues to do so, at some point we will probably have to leave.
'What I have not agreed with is deciding that we should leave without having a plan for what that looks like and how to do so in a way that makes sense.'
The Convention's Article 8 – a right to a family life – has been notably used by foreign criminals to avoid deportation from the UK.
The Government's immigration white paper released last month promised legislation to 'strengthen the public interest test to make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control our country's borders and take back control over who comes to, and stays in the UK'.
Sir Keir Starmer said at the time that the 'the right balance' needed to be made between individual rights and 'the national interest'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Western Telegraph
34 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Kemi Badenoch refuses to kick Liz Truss out of Conservative Party
The Tory leader suggested such a move would be 'neither here nor there' for voters' perception of the party. In a speech on Thursday, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride sought to distance the Conservatives from Ms Truss's mini-budget, saying the party needed to show 'contrition' to restore its economic credibility. In a furious response, Ms Truss accused Sir Mel of having 'kowtowed to the failed Treasury orthodoxy' and being 'set on undermining my plan for growth'. Asked by the BBC on Friday whether she would consider throwing former prime minister Ms Truss out of the Conservatives in a symbolic break with her short-lived, turbulent time in No 10, Mrs Badenoch replied: 'Is she still in the party?' Ms Truss, the former Conservative MP for South West Norfolk, is understood to be a Tory party member still. Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Badenoch said: 'What is really important is what Mel was saying yesterday. What he was saying was that the mini-budget did not balance. It wasn't tax cuts, it was the … £150 billion of spending increases on energy bills that did not make sense.' Pressed whether she believed the mini-budget had damaged the Conservative brand, Mrs Badenoch said: 'Well, look at what happened, people didn't understand why we had done that, and so our reputation for economic competence was damaged.' Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the party needed to 'focus on how we're going to get this country back on track' (Stefan Rousseau/PA) When asked again why she would not consider kicking Ms Truss out of the party, the Tory leader said: 'It is not about any particular individual. I don't want to be commenting on previous prime ministers. 'They've had their time. What am I going to do now? Removing people from a political party is neither here nor there in terms of what it is your viewers want to see.' After insisting Ms Truss was not in Parliament anymore, Mrs Badenoch said her party needed to 'focus on how we're going to get this country back on track'. 'What we have right now is a Labour Government, it's Keir Starmer. We need to stop talking about several prime ministers ago and talk about the Prime Minister we've got now and what he's doing to the country,' the Tory leader said. Ms Truss this week appeared in a video to promote the Irish whiskey brand of bare-knuckle fighter Dougie Joyce, who was once jailed for attacking a 78-year-old man in a pub in 2022.
The Herald Scotland
42 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Council forced to U-turn on nursery mothballing plans
Despite previously insisting that the closures would go ahead, council officials have now indicated that they will abandon the plans and seek a review of the authority's approach to mothballing. In response to multiple requests to explain why unelected officers were able to make decisions on mothballing without consultation, a council spokesperson had previously suggested that government guidance – which includes clear instructions to consult with communities on any such decision – does not apply to nurseries, meaning that they did not need to discuss the matter with families before implementing the changes. In recent days, however, the council has come under increasing pressure over its plans. The matter has been raised in the Scottish Parliament, and government officials recently wrote to the council to warn that the proposals were not in line with statutory requirements. In a letter to Laurence Findlay, the Director for Education and Children's Services at Aberdeenshire Council, a government official explicitly stated that mothballing guidance applies to council-run nurseries, and highlighted a section of the document stating that any mothballing decision 'should be taken in consultation with the parents involved.' The government's letter also raised concerns about the mothballing of another nursery in 2024 which has since been removed from the options that parents can choose from when applying for a space for their child. Scottish Conservatives MSP Alexander Burnett has also written to the administration, which is led by councillors from his own party. His email, which has been seen by The Herald, sharply criticised several aspects of the council's approach and urged them to abandon the mothballing proposals. In addition to this, The Herald has been shown email correspondence in which the council is explicitly advised by a solicitor acting for parents that they considered the plans "unlawful". Officials are asked to state whether they agree with this, in which case they would have had to advise councillors of this, or disagree, in which case there would be no reason for families to delay further legal action. Opposition councillors had successfully demanded a special meeting of the council take place to consider the matter, with the session planned for Monday 9 June. When The Herald approached the council about this matter earlier today an official declined to comment, stating that they did not wish to 'pre-empt' any decisions that might be made by elected representatives. However, by mid-afternoon this position had changed, and the council's press team issued a release stating that the administration now intends to abandon the controversial mothballing plans: 'The Administration is minded to seek a review of our mothballing guidance to incorporate a consultation process with parents. 'We acknowledge the strong feelings concerning the four settings and appreciate the concerns of parents who highly value their local early learning facilities. We are trying to balance the needs of children and families, with a challenging financial position – but it is critical we do this in the right way. 'We will be recommending that we pause planning for all future mothballing activity currently underway, whilst we examine the guidance. Whilst we have been engaging with parents, we need to consult at a much earlier stage to inform the decision-making process, and we will explore how to integrate this into the procedure. 'We will also recommend reversing the budget decision identifying this as a saving in our 2025/26 budget process and seek to identify the saving from elsewhere. 'We are taking the unusual step of announcing our intention prior to the meeting in the hope that we remove further anxiety for the people who have made requests to speak.' The original proposals had been strongly opposed by SNP and some independent councillors who have welcomed the U-turn. Commenting, SNP Education and Children's Spokesperson, Cllr Louise McAllister, said: 'The decision to mothball these nurseries, without consultation or democratic oversight, was wrong from the get go, and that is a point we have strived to make since the announcements in April. 'As well as the U-turn on mothballing, I sincerely hope that the administration also accept that these decisions need to be fully returned to the hands of elected members, so that we can truly be a voice for the communities we represent. 'Whilst I am delighted for the children who can now continue to access their childcare provision in these settings, I think the administration must acknowledge and apologise for the hurt and distress caused by this short sighted decision making.' SNP Deputy Education and Children's Spokesperson, Cllr Jenny Nicol, added: 'From the outset we have voted against mothballing decisions being made by officers, and consistently challenged a process that lacked proper consultation and failed to consider the long term impact on rural families. 'For too long, decisions were being made behind closed doors, without the input of those most affected and facing the traumatic realities of mothballing. This reversal shows what can be achieved when communities stand up and are supported by Councillors who put people before 'process'.' 'We welcome this shift, but it must now be followed by a full review of the guidance and a genuine commitment to rural early years provision going forward.' SNP Cllr Dawn Black, who represents Stonehaven and Lower Deeside, praised local communities who 'have stepped up and fought this campaign so passionately and so successfully.' 'As Councillors our hands have been tied to a certain extent and we have done all we can to push this issue forward – and finally we see some change. We could not have done that without the dedication of local voices who took the time to email and speak with individual Councillors and at the education committee. 'Regardless of guidance from elsewhere, as a council we should want to consult with communities – to work with them to find sustainable ways forward – that should have already been in our guidance. Instead the Tory-led administration have tried to force change on communities, whilst hiding behind officers, and have realised that people just will not stand for it.'
Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Navarro responds to Musk-Trump feud
By Published: | Updated: Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro brushed off the exploding feud between President Trump and Elon Musk by comparing the world's richest man to something a consumer might forget about in the back of the fridge. Navarro, a Trump loyalist who served four months in prison for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena, was among the first Trump Administration officials on camera after the Trump-Musk clash went into meltdown mode. The two men were completely at odds over Trump's tariffs, which prompted a reporter to ask Navarro at the White House whether he was glad to see Musk out of the fray. 'No, I'm not glad. Whatever,' Navarro replied. 'It's – people come and go from the White House. He was a Special Government Employee with an expiration date,' Navarro said. Musk served in government as a 'Special Government Employee,' and the administration cited the 130-day limit when explaining his departure, although Trump had the power to renew it. Trump himself used language Thursday that gave the impression he fired Musk. 'Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave,' Trump wrote in just one of his slams on his former first buddy. Later, Navarro, 75, had something nice to say about Musk's team of programmers and aides who got access to agency computer systems and searched for contracts. 'I work with the DOGE folks a lot here, and I've got a very special project, which at some point I'll come out here and talk about with them,' Navarro said. He claimed to have identified a government computer program that 'is run like a 1950s IBM punch card operation at great expense.' 'We're going to turn that from a Model T into a Ferrari,' he said. But he refused to divulge specifics on an extraordinary intervention. 'Stay tuned,' he said. Navarro has been a key proponent of Trump's tariffs, during both the first and second term, helping promote Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs that the administration calls 'reciprocal' to hit back at countries running a trade surplus with the U.S. In his stunning clash with Trump Thursday, Musk wrote that 'The Trump Tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.' That put him at odds with Trump's cherished policy – and Trump's 'favorite word' in the dictionary – even while taking on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' which is Trump's top legislative priority. Navarro tried to smooth over the policy differences.
