I don't want to leave ECHR, said peer reviewing Tory support for convention
Britain should remain in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the peer leading the Tories' review has previously said.
Lord Wolfson, the shadow attorney general, told the Lords in 2023 that he supported the UK 'being in the convention' even though he disagreed with some decisions from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Speaking in a debate on Tory plans to enact their Rwanda deportation plans, he also warned that Parliament should not legislate in breach of its international law obligations unless there were 'absolutely compelling reasons' to do so.
His past comments have emerged as Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, appointed him to head a review into whether the UK should leave the ECHR and how to prevent lawyers 'subverting' government policy.
Mrs Badenoch is setting up a commission to investigate how a Tory government could prevent lawyers using human rights and other legislation to block government policy, not only on immigration but also in environmental and equality legislation.
Lord Wolfson, a former justice minister, made his comments in a debate on Rishi Sunak's illegal migration bill which included new powers for ministers to ignore ECtHR injunctions, one of which blocked the first deportation flight to Rwanda.
His past comments on ECHR membership have raised eyebrows among Tories. One commented: 'He is a brilliant lawyer but you wonder if Kemi should have chosen someone who was a bit more open-minded.'
In the Lords debate, Lord Wolfson said: 'I support our membership of the European Convention on Human Rights. I do not always agree with the decisions of the court – I do not always agree with the decisions of our domestic courts either – but that is a separate matter. I support us being in the convention.'
He also said that the UK ought to abide by international law obligations.
'I would expect Parliament not to legislate contrary to a treaty obligation unless there were absolutely compelling reasons to do so and, in those circumstances, to make that very clear. Otherwise, we should always be legislating consistently with our international law obligations,' he told the Lords.
'The debate has moved on'
It is understood Lord Wolfson believes the debate has moved on since 2023.
The Telegraph understands that irrespective of his views, his role as head of the review is to provide dispassionate advice on the impact of the ECHR on government policy, the legal consequences of leaving and how it could be done.
It will be for the leadership to then decide whether to leave or not.
A Tory source said: 'He is conducting a review of the legal impact of membership of the ECHR on government policy and providing to the leader and shadow cabinet a legal analysis of what being a member of the ECHR means and what would be the effect of leaving the ECHR in a legal sense.
'The political question of whether we should stay or leave is not for him or the commission. That's a question for the leader and shadow cabinet. They are the clients in this context, and he is their lawyer. They have asked him a series of questions that he is going to answer with his legal hat on. They can decide what they then do.'
Interviewed earlier this week about what the Tories' position was on the ECHR, Lord Wolfson told Joshua Rozenberg's podcast A Lawyer Talks: 'I can only say watch this space. But it's no secret to say that within the Conservative Party, there will be people who take different views on this issue.
'Within the Labour Party, there are people who take very different positions on this issue.'
However, he indicated that ministers should not comply with treaty obligations if that would mean ignoring laws made by Parliament.
He said ministers would always seek to comply with international law if they were able to do so.
But he added: 'A minister has to abide by an act of Parliament and it would be constitutionally improper, I would suggest, for the minister to say, 'I'm going to ignore what an act of Parliament says in order to comply with a treaty obligation'.'
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, told The Telegraph: 'The man leading this review into Britain's membership of the ECHR does not actually want to leave it.
'This tells us everything we need to know about how serious the Conservatives are about deporting illegal migrants and stopping the boats.
'They haven't changed one bit since their time in office.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Reform Civil War: Now Richard Tice says chairman who quit was WRONG to oppose burka ban
Nigel Farage 's deputy has said he is 'enormously sad' that Reform's chairman resigned – but insisted he was wrong to oppose a burka ban. Richard Tice said Zia Yusuf, who plunged Reform into chaos after resigning on Thursday, had worked 'incredibly hard' and helped the party win hundreds of council seats in last month's local elections. But he insisted that banning the burka was right because the Islamic veil is 'a repressive item of clothing'. However, Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer did not support a ban, with a spokesman saying: 'This Government does not believe in mandating what people should or shouldn't wear in public.' Mr Yusuf's departure came just hours after he hit out at one of Reform's own MPs for a 'dumb' question in the House of Commons about banning the burka. He publicly questioned why Sarah Pochin, Reform's recently elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, had challenged Sir Keir about the issue in the Commons on Wednesday when a ban is not official party policy. In a post on X/Twitter on Thursday morning, he said: 'I do think it's dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do.' By the evening he had resigned, saying he no longer felt that working with Mr Farage to try to win the next election was 'a good use of my time'. Asked about his departure yesterday, Mr Tice, Reform's deputy leader, said: 'I'm enormously sad that Zia has resigned. He's worked incredibly hard. I've sent him a message of thanks.' Asked if he agreed with Mr Yusuf that the party should not pledge to ban the burka, he added: 'No, I don't. 'The reality is that I think it is right that we should have a debate about whether or not the burka is appropriate in a nation that's founded in Christianity, where women are equal citizens and should not be viewed as second-class citizens. 'If we're a great democracy that believes in free speech, let's have a calm and respectful debate.' Asked by the BBC Radio 4's Today programme if he supported a ban, he added: 'Yeah, I'm pretty concerned about whether or not the burka is essentially a sort of repressive item of clothing, whether women have the choice.' Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria – while other countries have enacted partial bans. His resignation comes after Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe was kicked out of Reform in March for criticising Mr Farage's leadership. Mr Yusuf also clashed with Mr Lowe and said he made verbal threats of violence against him. Mr Lowe always denied the allegations and was later cleared by Scotland Yard after Mr Yusuf reported the incident. Labour and SNP 'terrified' after Reform's poll surge By David Churchill, Chief Political Correspondent Reform claimed Labour and the SNP were in a 'coalition of the terrified' after the party notched up a staggering 26 per cent of the vote in a Scottish by-election. Reform deputy leader, Richard Tice made the jibe yesterday after coming third in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election. While Labour's candidate Davy Russell won the contest with 8,559 votes (31.6 per cent), the SNP came second with 7,957 (29.4 per cent). This was followed by Reform with 7,088 (26.2 per cent), meaning they came within 1,500 votes of winning. The leading pollster professor Sir John Curtice said the result showed Reform also posed a serious threat to Labour north of the border. Last week, SNP Scottish First Minister John Swinney accused Reform leader Nigel Farage of being 'fundamentally racist'.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Surge in support for Reform in by-election puts Labour seriously under threat, warns expert
A SURGE in support for Reform in a hotly-contested by-election puts Labour seriously under threat, an expert has warned. Nigel Farage's party finished a close third with more than 26 per cent of the vote narrowly behind both Labour and the SNP in the ballot in Hamilton, Scotland. The party said it was a 'remarkable' turnaround picking up 7,088 compared to just 58 votes in the constituency in 2021 as it attempted to win its first seat in Holyrood. Election guru John Curtice said it would be a 'serious misreading' to believe that Labour had turned round its election fortunes, with the Scottish elections next May. He told the BBC: 'Reform are making the political weather north of the border, as indeed they are south of the border.' Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said: 'We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that by-election and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP.' The performance came just hours after Zia Yusuf resigned as party chair plunging the party into chaos following a row about banning burqas. In a parting shot, he said he no longer believed trying to get Nigel Farage elected as PM was a 'good use of my time'. Mr Yusuf's shock resignation - just weeks after masterminding their local elections triumph - came after an internal row about banning the burqa. The multi-millionaire ex-businessman had attacked the party's newest MP Sarah Pochin as 'dumb' for asking Sir Keir Starmer to outlaw the Muslim face covering in the Commons. But insiders said tensions at the top of Reform had been brewing for some time, with the chairman feeling increasingly sidelined. In a statement, Mr Yusuf said: 'Eleven months ago I became Chairman of Reform. Watch moment Nigel Farage makes back door exit as Reform UK leader dodges protesters in Scotland 'I've worked full time as a volunteer to take the party from 14 to 30 per cent, quadrupled its membership and delivered historic electoral results. 'I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.' 2
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
STEPHEN DAISLEY: Baillie grinned like the cat who got the cream...and sent the milkman to A&E
With its astonishing victory in the Hamilton by-election, Scottish Labour becomes the first recorded case of resurrection from the dead in more than 2,000 years. No one predicted this. Not the pollsters, nor the pundits; not the bookies, nor the broadcasters. Anyone who says otherwise is telling big fat porkies. Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse was staying SNP or there was going to be an upset for Reform. And while Richard Tice didn't look upset necessarily, you'd have been hard-pressed to guess his party had received one in every four votes cast in a staunchly left-wing seat it had never contested before. The Reform deputy leader's mind might have been on other matters. Earlier in the day, his party chairman Zia Yusuf quit amid an internal spat on the merits of banning the burqa. Hacks ambushed Tice at the count demanding his views. It's not every day South Lanarkshire Council HQ hosts an impromptu debate on Islamic theology. The man of the night, though, was Davy Russell. Up there on the dais with the other candidates, the bloke just beamed. He is what you'd get if you asked ChatGPT for a Lanarkshire granda: ruddy coupon, unpolished manner, plain diction, doesn't like a fuss, slips the grandweans full-fat Irn-Bru when their mammy isn't looking. (Speaking later to a journalist, he said: 'The only high greater than this was when my grandson Adam was born six weeks ago.' Bless.) His victory speech had obviously been written for him by a press officer and if his delivery was flat and unvaried, it was all this banal checklist of soundbites called for. There was, to be fair, one moment of wit. 'And for Ross,' Russell smirked, 'can you see me noo?' Ross Lambie, his Reform opponent, had branded Russell 'the invisible man' after he failed to show for a televised hustings. Labour's decision to keep their man away from the debate was a canny one. Russell is not a seasoned public speaker. He would have opened himself to awkward questions about Labour policies at Westminster. The potential for gaffes would have been too great. With any luck we'll see more pushback against this alien American interloper into our democracy. TV debates are show-business, not politics, and unless you have a showbiz candidate, they should be avoided. The outcome was as dazzling for Labour as for everyone else. As Anas Sarwar made a valiant attempt to explain the result to Sky News, over his shoulder Labour whip Martin McCluskey had an expression I've only ever seen on someone coming off a three-day bender. What was happening? Was it actually happening? Is it possible to hallucinate off the back of three cups of lukewarm tea? TV cameras caught Sarwar, gape-jawed and gripping Jackie Baillie by the elbows, before breaking into a smile. This victory belonged as much to him as to anyone. Beating the SNP is one thing, but he had triumphed over Scottish Labour's most fearsome foe: Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister threw everything he could at Russell's campaign — Universal Credit changes, Winter Fuel Allowance cuts, uncontrolled immigration — but somehow Scottish Labour managed to clinch victory from the jaws of Starmer. In the wee small hours of Friday there was already speculation that Sarwar could turn around the polls in time to win Holyrood 2026. But, wait, where was John Swinney in all this? He was the face of the SNP's campaign in Hamilton. He made the poll a choice between his genre of politics and that of Nigel Farage. Yet when the chips, not to mention the ballots, were down he was nowhere to be seen. On STV, it was put to Baillie that the First Minister had been adamant that Hamilton was a straight fight between the SNP and Reform. She grinned like the cat that not only got the cream but had sent the milkman to A&E in the process. 'The First Minister is adamant about a lot of things,' she purred. On Friday, Swinney finally found his way to a TV camera and asserted that, while the SNP had come second, it had nevertheless 'made progress'. If losing a constituency the SNP had held uninterrupted since 2011 is the First Minister's definition, may his party make much, much more progress over the next 12 months
