PM does a human rights court U-turn

DAVID Cameron yesterday completed a sharp U- turn by threatening to quit the European Convention on Human Rights if Strasbourg does not agree to stop meddling. The Prime Minister’s comments follow a week of confusion in the Tory ranks during which ministers had insisted that leaving the ECHR was ‘not on the table’.

The chaos dates back to October, when former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling first unveiled plans to scrap Labour’s Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.

The new legislation would be worded in such a way as to give the UK supremacy over the European Court of Human Rights, which oversees the ECHR.

At the time, Mr Grayling said the plan was backed with a threat to quit Strasbourg’s jurisdiction if it did not agree.

Last week’s Queen’s Speech contained a commitment to consulting on a new law, stopping short of the Bill itself. There was no repeat of the threat to leave the ECHR, and aides indicated it had been dropped. On Monday, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said of leaving the Convention: ‘That is not the proposal on the table.’

Yesterday, however, the Prime Minister changed the Government’s position back to Mr Grayling’s original plan in what was dubbed a ‘U-turn on a U-turn’.

Mr Cameron told MPs: ‘We’re very clear in what we want, which is British judges making decisions in British courts.

‘Our plans set out in our manifesto do not involve us leaving the European Convention on Human Rights. But if we can’t achieve what we need ... when we’ve got these foreign criminals committing offence after offence and we can’t send them home because of their right to a family life, that needs to change. I rule out absolutely nothing in getting that done.’

His comments delighted senior Tories such as Home Secretary Theresa May, who has argued in favour of quitting Strasbourg. But they also put him at odds with a band of backbenchers – including ex-Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell – who say that leaving the Convention will set the wrong example to the rest of the world.

There are fears that with Labour, the SNP and Lib Dems all opposed to scrapping the Human Rights Act, rebel Tories could send the Government crashing to defeat.

FIRST the Tories threatened to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights if Strasbourg refused to accept UK judges’ supremacy.

Next, we were told the threat had been dropped. Indeed, only on Monday Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond declared: ‘That is not the proposal on the table.’

But fast forward 48 hours – and there was David Cameron, telling the Commons that he rules out ‘absolutely nothing’ in his bid to ensure that our rights are determined by British judges and a parliament accountable to the people. In other words, the threat is on again.

May the Mail make one plea? After this U-turn on a U-turn, the Tories are again facing the right way – indeed, the only way likely to achieve their manifesto commitment (on which all the party’s MPs, Strasbourg enthusiasts included, were elected).

So will they stop pirouetting – and start drafting their promised replacement for the dire Human Rights Act?