PM demands ‘fair’ reform of European court

RISHI SUNAK has demanded reform of the European Court of Human Rights to be “fair” to Britain over its plans to deport illegal migrants.

The Prime Minister yesterday met Siofra O’leary, president of the ECHR, to make a direct appeal for changes to its rules to prevent a repeat of the lastminute “rule 39” injunction in which a single ECHR judge blocked the first deportation flight to Rwanda last June.

They met in Reykjavik, Iceland, at a summit of the Council of Europe, the 46-member group of countries that the UK played a key role in founding at the end of the Second World War.

In the lead-up to the meeting, Mr Sunak said: “We want to make sure that the European Court is always conducting itself in a way which is fair, which is effective, which is transparent, and that is the type of conversation I’ll be having with the European Court president.

“The European Court itself is undertaking an internal review of what’s called the rule 39 process – they are the temporary judgments that the European Court has issued in the past to stop countries like ours from doing certain things – we want to make sure that reform process is concluded.”

Mr Sunak said that Dominic Raab, when he was justice secretary, and Victoria Prentis KC, the Attorney General, had already discussed reforms with the ECHR that would prevent rule 39 injunctions being used arbitrarily and without representation from the Government.

The Prime Minister has described the rule 39 procedures as failing the “natural justice test” and decided by unnamed judges behind closed doors.

The Government is also taking pow- ers in the Illegal Migration Bill giving Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, the “discretion” to ignore rule 39 orders.

Mr Sunak said the UK had previously led reform of the ECHR which it would be “building on going forward”.

He added: The UK has a long track record of leading and being at the heart of these conversations. Winston Churchill was one of the founding fathers of the organisation we’re talking about today.”

He reaffirmed the need for European nations to co-operate on tackling illegal migration and trafficking. “I’m not going to rest until I have stopped the boats and that’s why I’m here,” said Mr Sunak.

The Prime Minister said more than 8,000 illegal Albanian migrants have been sent home since the end of last year when he agreed a eal with Edi Rama, the country’s prime minister.