Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a major reversal on international human rights laws, pledging a review of how British courts interpret the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The move could make it harder for asylum seekers to remain in the UK by limiting their ability to argue they face torture if returned to their home country or to claim a right to stay based on family ties.
The announcement marks a sharp departure for Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who previously defended the ECHR. It comes as he ramps up attacks on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, describing the small boats crossing the English Channel as “Farage boats.”
Charities and human rights advocates reacted with anger, warning the prime minister risks trading his image as a defender of freedoms for one of repression. Campaigners accused him of transforming “from a human rights lawyer to a human rights shredder.”
Akiko Hart, director of Liberty, said the proposed review is “unlikely to make a material difference to migration figures and risk setting us on a path to undermining the rights of every person in Britain.”
However, Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, dismissed the prime minister’s words, calling them “meaningless and suggest nothing will happen.”
Review Targets Key ECHR Provisions
In an interview, Starmer denied plans to “tear up” the ECHR but insisted that Articles 3 and 8, covering “cruel and inhumane treatment” and the “right to a family life,” must be reassessed. He added that reviews of conventions relating to “refugees, torture and children’s rights” are also underway.
“All international instruments have to be applied in circumstances as they are now. We are seeing mass migration in a way we have not seen in previous years. Those genuinely fleeing persecution should be afforded asylum – that is a compassionate act, but we need to look again at the interpretation of some of those provisions – not tear them down but look at the interpretation.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer
His stance has split opinion within Labour. Former Home Secretary Jack Straw praised the move as “very sensible.” But Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti warned against political opportunism, saying: “Any debate about our fundamental rights and freedoms needs to begin with facts and law rather than political spin. As for the politics, we won’t achieve ‘decency’ over ‘division’ by trying to be Reform Lite.”
Liberty’s Hart reiterated that the ECHR has become a scapegoat for migration challenges, stressing that “only a handful of foreign national offenders remain in the UK on human rights grounds.” She cautioned that opening the treaty to reinterpretation could “lead to the unravelling of the protections we all depend upon.”
Rights Groups Condemn “Authoritarian Shift”
Steve Smith, chief executive of refugee charity Care4Calais, condemned the shift, saying: “Going from being a human rights lawyer to a human rights shredder would be the final stage in the prime minister’s makeover from humanitarian to authoritarian.”
“As humans, we should all be concerned when a politician threatens to rip up human rights. Even more so when it’s driven by the vindictiveness of targeting survivors of torture. No one is safe from a politician who can act with such callousness.”
Steve Smith, chief executive of refugee charity Care4Calais
The controversy follows renewed clashes between Starmer and Nigel Farage. Just a day earlier, the prime minister accused the Reform UK leader of being “wrong” to claim Brexit had no impact on migration policy, citing the loss of the Dublin Convention which once allowed Britain to return asylum seekers to EU countries.
The U-turn marks a politically charged moment for Starmer as he attempts to balance domestic pressures over immigration with international obligations on human rights.
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