The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Reform ECHR if it is used to block Rwanda Ireland ‘reaping what it has deportation flights, warn senior Tories sown’ with migrant influx
THE European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) must be reformed if it is used to block deportation flights to Rwanda, senior Tories on the centrist wing of the party have warned.
Damian Green and Matt Warman, the chairman and leading member of the One Nation caucus, said the treaty must not be used to obstruct Rishi Sunak’s migration plan after it finally became law earlier this week. One Nation MPs have long defended the ECHR against criticisms from the Right of the party and insist the Rwanda scheme cannot breach international law.
But Mr Green and Mr Warman said the Government must be “ready to take a leading role” in reforming the court if it stepped in to scupper removal flights.
The most senior judge at the European Court of Human Rights, which oversees the convention, has previously warned Mr Sunak’s scheme could fall foul of the convention.
Writing for the former ministers said: “Despite empty noise from the Left, Parliament has delivered on its part of the bargain and passed the Bill.
“Now it is time for the Home Office to step up and do its part too, ensuring officials do all they can to get flights off the ground and deliver on the British people’s priorities.
“This should not be prevented by international courts, and if the ECHR
‘It is time for the Home Office to step up, ensuring officials do all they can to get flights off the ground’
chooses to intervene, then the Conservative Government must be ready to take a leading role in reforming and improving the court to ensure it is fit for purpose.”
At a press conference this week, Mr Sunak revealed plans to get the first flights off to Rwanda in the next 10 to 12 weeks after admitting parliamentary delays meant he would miss a previous spring deadline. Mr Sunak said earlier this month his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was “more important” than “membership of any foreign court”.
Leaving the convention has become a key demand of senior figures on the Tory Right who believe it is the only way the Government can stop illegal Channel crossings.
Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, believes Britain should quit the ECHR with immediate effect, while Robert Jenrick, who was Mrs Braverman’s immigration minister, has called on the Conservatives to fight the next general election on the issue.
Mr Green and Mr Warman also urged colleagues to fall in line behind Mr Sunak and focus solely on defeating Sir Keir Starmer and Labour at the next national poll.
The Tories are currently predicted to lose as many as half of their councillors contesting Thursday’s local elections. A poor performance is likely to trigger fresh speculation about Mr Sunak’s future in Downing Street as his party trails Labour by around 20 points in the polls.
THE influx of migrants crossing into Ireland from the UK is because Dublin is “reaping what it sowed” in the Brexit negotiations, a senior unionist has said.
Micheál Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, has blamed the Rwanda plan for an increase in asylum seekers entering his country from Northern Ireland. Dublin believes that more than 80 per cent of asylum seekers in Ireland have crossed the open border.
However, Jim Allister, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, said it was not the Rwanda plan but Ireland’s insistence on keeping the border open after Brexit that was to blame.
“You reap what you sow. The Republic of Ireland insisted there wouldn’t even be a camera allowed on the international frontier and now they lament the consequences of the open border they demanded,” he said.
“It’s hard to find sympathy for those so driven by their all-Ireland agenda and poking the British over Brexit that they insisted on the very thing now swamping them with immigrants.”
Downing Street said it was too early to jump to conclusions about the deterrent impact of the Rwanda scheme.
A No 10 spokesman said: “The Act serves as a deterrent and that is why we are working to get flights off the ground. Our partnership is precisely the kind of collaborative effort that is required to tackle people smuggling.”
Tensions over immigration have risen in Ireland amid an increase in migrant numbers and a housing crisis.
Mr Allister opposes Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, which he says puts its place in the UK at risk.
The Windsor Framework kept the land border with the Republic of Ireland open after Brexit but at the price of introducing an Irish Sea border between Britain and Northern Ireland. Dublin and Brussels insisted on the deal to prevent a post-Brexit hard land border on the island of Ireland, in the negotiations to take the UK out of the EU.
Ireland said the return of border infrastructure would put the peace process at risk and that a Brexit treaty was necessary to protect its place in the EU’s Single Market.
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