Climate ruling shows why Britain should leave the European Convention

sir – We should welcome the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, (ECHR) which seeks to force Switzerland to enact the climate policies of Greta Thunberg and her friends (“Tory backlash over European court’s climate ruling”, report, April 10). For it banishes all doubt: the UK must leave the European Convention on Human Rights as soon as possible.

This victory for the eco-warriors is a dire warning. We voted for Brexit to regain our national sovereignty; we cannot allow ourselves to be governed by lawyers in Strasbourg.

Our departure will also leave us free to tackle illegal immigration effectively, with policies decided by our own democratically elected government.

John Hicks

Manchester

sir – The legal profession appears to be interfering in politics and blocking government policy quite unjustifiably. Its tentacles are stretching ever more deeply into our lives under the aegis of European court rulings and the nonsense that emanates from other unelected bodies. Lawyers are supplanting Parliament’s authority, not supporting it.

The balance between rights and obligations is now totally out of kilter – something that is highly unlikely to be addressed and reversed by a Labour government. Voters beware.

John Kellie

Pyrford, Surrey

sir – The ECHR might just as well have decreed that we all have the right to walk on water. A country the size of Switzerland, or the UK, could go 100 per cent carbon neutral and it would have no impact on climate change.

There are four major players who can make a difference: the United States, China, India and Russia. Until those countries decide how they are going to banish carbon from their economies, we and the Court are whistling in the wind. This is a clear example of why the Court should have no place in our lives.

Jonathan Arthur

Parkgate, Wirral

sir – How far down the road of political farce does this travesty of a court have to progress before governments have the guts to do something? It is obvious that its latest judgment is ill-conceived.

The United Kingdom must leave the Convention immediately. It has outlived its usefulness, and European judges are now seeking to seize the kind of political power that, in a civilised society, must remain in the hands of elected officials.

Charles Penfold

Ulverston, Cumbria

sir – We don’t need to leave the ECHR. Instead we should do as the French do and simply ignore the rulings that we do not like.

Sandy Pratt