Rishi Sunak accused of ‘willy waving’ over threat to pull UK out of ECHR

Rishi Sunak has been accused of “willy waving” over apparent plans to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights in an attempt to crack down on illegal migration.

Jackie Doyle-Price, the MP for Thurrock, is also reported to have said that cutting ties with the Strasbourg court “will do zilch” after suggestions that the prime minister was willing to take the UK out of the ECHR if it interfered with domestic law.

She had been responding her colleague Jonathan Gullis, the Stroke-on-Trent North MP, who is supportive of the government’s plans and posted a link to the Sunday Times story on a Whatsapp ‘Home Group’ of Conservative MPs seen by the Politico website.

“I have been a member of the Conservative Party for 36 years,” Ms Doyle-Price went on. “This group leaves me cold. Upholding the law should never be a matter for debate for a Conservative. Our Home Office is crap.

“If the government wants to have a phone[y] war over the ECHR instead of sorting itself out it can do it without me.”

She was backed by Tory MP David Simmonds who reportedly posted in the group: “The ECHR is not the issue here. By pretending it is, we are setting ourselves up for a fall as a UK court will take the same line.”

Alicia Kearns, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, also weighed in, saying that the proposed withdrawal from ECHR was not the right target: “We cannot tackle asylum claims when we haven’t given ourselves the legal grounding on coming here illegally.”

Separate reports over the weekend said the government was considering two options aimed at cutting the number of people making the treacherous journey across the Channel in small boats.

One proposal was to withdraw people’s right to appeal against their automatic exclusion from the asylum system. The second was to change the law so that people who arrive to the UK in small boats would only be allowed to lodge an appeal after they had already been deported.

Sources close to Mr Sunak said that if Strasbourg holds up legislation that has been put onto the UK’s statute books then he would consider whether remaining in the ECHR is in the UK’s “long-term interests”.

Mr Sunak, who marked 100 days in office last week, has made cutting illegal immigration one of his key priorities for 2023, along with halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, and bringing down NHS waiting lists.

Mr Sunak, in a speech on 4 January, promised voters that he would pass new laws to “stop small boats” and make sure that if “you come to this country illegally, you are swiftly removed.”

Polls show that reducing immigration is among voters’ top concerns, particularly in the ‘red wall’ seats in the North of England that analysts say is key to Mr Sunak’s fortunes at the next general election.

Official estimates suggested that 65,000 migrants were expected to arrive in the UK this year – compared to the 45,000 who claimed asylum in 2022.

Although judges ruled in December 2022 that the government’s Rwanda plan was legal, the policy been beset by challenges and appeals by migrants on human rights grounds. No asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda yet.

David Simmonds, the Ruislip MP, agreed with Ms Doyle-Price that “the ECHR is not the issue here”. “By pretending it is, we are setting ourselves up for a fall as a UK court will take the same line,” he said.

Tom Hunt, the MP for Ipswich who has been vocal in his support for the government’s immigration plans, indicated he would support removing the UK from the ECHR.

A government aide told Playbook: “The British people expect us to stop the boats and that’s what our legislation must do.

“There will be new safe and legal routes, we will still meet our international obligations and stay within the ECHR, but we have to overcome this problem or face electoral Armageddon.”