Chancery Lane condemns Kemi Badenoch’s plan for ECHR departure if the Conservatives return to government. 

The Law Society of England and Wales today strongly rejected calls to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), after Kemi Badenoch announced that a future Conservative government would withdraw from the convention.

'The Conservative Party is putting political interest above the public good,' president Richard Atkinson said. He was speaking after Badenoch, on the eve of her party conference, announced the findings of a review by shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson of Tredegar. Wolfson's review concluded: 'My overall view and advice is that should you wish to take the decision that it be Conservative Party policy that the UK should withdraw from the ECHR, such a policy would be perfectly possible both legally and practically.'

Responding, Atkinson said: 'Human rights law does one thing above all else - it puts people first. It protects us from the power of the state. Without the backstop of the ECHR, governments of whatever party will be able to erode our rights with no come-back. It is not just about immigration. From keeping elderly couples together in care homes, to getting justice for the victims of the black cab rapist John Worboys and fighting for the truth about the Hillsborough disaster, the rights in the ECHR have served us time and again.'

He added: 'It is striking that the Conservative Party, the voice of the small state and individual liberties, would want to take away these protections that serve us all. Staying within the ECHR is prioritising our national interest. We can tighten border controls without stripping the British public of their rights under the ECHR.'

 

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