What is ECHR as Tories threaten to leave if they win election

Kemi Badenoch has been accused of being “too weak” to stand up to her own party after announcing plans to exit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Tory leader announced she would withdraw the UK from the international treaty if it won the next election in an effort to curb immigration, prompting a furious response by rights groups.

Labour has now accused Ms Badenoch of adopting a policy she'd previously argued against, in a bid to stave off Reform UK.

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What is it?

The ECHR is an international treaty, established after WWII, that protects the human rights of its 46 member states.

This includes the rights to life, to liberty and security, to a fair trial, to respect for private and family life, to freedom of expression and assembly, and freedom of religion and belief. It also bans torture and cruel or degrading treatment, slavery and discrimination.

The ECHR guaranteed people’s fundamental human rights in law for the first time, and means public authorities such as government, schools, local councils and police must act in a way compatible with the convention.

What would leaving mean?

A new Bill of Rights would almost certainly be required, which the Tories would use to stop higher courts saying government decisions are incompatible with human rights. This could be used to make deportations easier.

Leaving the ECHR would jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to three decades of violence in Northern Ireland and across the UK. Leaving the ECHR would violate the agreement, and require a new peace settlement to be agreed.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement also relies on the ECHR, with the EU saying if the UK left, it would terminate the agreement, which is used to see criminal suspects extradited from the EU to face trial in the UK.

Leaving could also open the door to other countries leaving, and undermine the UK's role in protecting human rights.

What has Labour said?

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch has adopted a policy she argued against in her own leadership campaign because she is too weak to stand up to her own party in the face of Reform.

“Badenoch now thinks she is both incapable of negotiating changes to the ECHR with our international partners, and a sufficiently accomplished diplomatic operator to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement, despite not even knowing some of the most basic facts about Northern Irish politics as recently as yesterday. This is a decision that has been forced on her and not thought through.

“While the Tories and Reform fight amongst themselves, this Labour Government is cracking down on people smuggling gangs, deporting foreign criminals and bringing forward workable and decisive solutions to bring order to Britain’s borders.”

What have human rights groups said?

Amnesty International UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “We should all be very cautious of politicians who try to take away the very rights that hold politicians themselves to account. Take this convention away and people will be vulnerable to the political whims of those who seek to undermine and deny them their rights.

“Scapegoating people fleeing persecution and other migrants as an excuse to gut this country’s human rights protections is not courageous, but cowardly. Stripping ordinary people of these protections will leave us all smaller, more divided, and less safe.”

Richard Atkinson, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said: “The Conservative Party is putting political interest above the public good.

“Without the backstop of the ECHR, governments of whatever party will be able to erode our rights with no come-back.”

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