Britain fails to sign letter from nine European powers demanding reform of ECHR as pressure mounts on Attorney General Lord Hermer

Daily Mail​

5 days ago

Britain has failed to sign a letter from a string of countries demanding reform of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Denmark, Italy, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland all said there was a need to 'look at' the influence of Strasbourg judges.
The leaders of the nine countries penned an open letter calling for 'more freedom'.
They suggested the ECHR, which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights, was limiting their ability to 'make political decisions in our own democracies'.
But the UK's signature was absent from the letter despite Attorney General Lord Hermer recently calling for Britain to lead efforts to reform international agreements.
Senior Tory MP Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, accused Lord Hermer and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of hypocrisy.
He told The Times: 'Starmer talks about reforming the ECHR, but his actions tell a completely different story.
'This shows Hermer's comments last week were a cynical ploy to give the impression Labour want to be part of the solution, when really they're helping to defend a broken system that stops us controlling our borders.'
The nine countries suggested the ECHR, which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights, was limiting their ability to 'make political decisions in our own democracies'
In a speech last week, Lord Hermer had argued that 'British leadership to strengthen and reform the international rules-based system is both the right thing to do and the only truly realistic choice'.
But the Attorney General also sparked fury with his address by comparing calls for the UK to quit the ECHR - as Mr Jenrick wants - to events in Nazi Germany.
Lord Hermer subsequently said he 'regrets' the remarks and acknowledged his 'choice of words was clumsy', although he rejected the 'characterisation of his speech by the Conservatives'.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called on Sir Keir to sack his Attorney General, claiming that Lord Hermer 'believes in the rule of lawyers, not the rule of law'.
In their open letter, the nine European leaders said there was 'a need to look at how the European Court of Human Rights has developed its interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights'.
'We believe that the development in the Court's interpretation has, in some cases, limited our ability to make political decisions in our own democracies,' they wrote.
'And thereby affected how we as leaders can protect our democratic societies and our populations against the challenges facing us in the world today.
'We have seen, for example, cases concerning the expulsion of criminal foreign nationals where the interpretation of the Convention has resulted in the protection of the wrong people and posed too many limitations on the states' ability to decide whom to expel from their territories.'
Their letter stated that the 'safety and stability of our own societies should have the highest priority', adding: 'We believe that we should have more room nationally to decide on when to expel criminal foreign nationals.'
It continued: 'We need more freedom to decide on how our authorities can keep track of for example criminal foreigners who cannot be deported from our territories.
'Criminals who cannot be deported even though they have taken advantage of our hospitality to commit crime and make others feel unsafe.
'We need to be able to take effective steps to counter hostile states that are trying to use our values and rights against us. For example, by instrumentalising migrants at our borders.'
'We want to use our democratic mandate to launch a new and open minded conversation about the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights,' the leaders said.
'We have to restore the right balance. And our countries will cooperate to further this ambition.'
The Attorney General's Office said in a statement: 'We have seen the initiative led by Denmark and Italy and are committed to a clear framework and fair balance for the application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the context of migration.
'Tackling illegal migration is a key priority for this Government.'
One Government source blamed the omission of Britain from the list of signatories on Brexit and suggested the letter had been arranged at an EU meeting.