Oral Answers to Questions

Angela Crawley Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

5. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of withdrawal from the European convention on human rights on human rights in the UK.

[Angela Crawley (Lanark and Hamilton East) (SNP)]

8. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of withdrawal from the European convention on human rights on human rights in the UK.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

10. What his policy is on the future of the UK’s adherence to the European convention on human rights.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

No one is more committed to the integrity of the UK than this Government. I set out the position on the Bill of Rights earlier. We have made it clear that we would not rule out ever withdrawing from the ECHR in the future. We certainly need to make sure that we have a viable legal regime that allows us to tackle illegal immigration.

[Angela Crawley]

Does the Secretary of State agree with the former Prime Minister, Sir John Major, who reminded the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee earlier this month that, far from being some bureaucratic creation, the ECHR was championed by Churchill and his Conservative Government, and that leaving the convention would place the UK in the dubious company of Belarus and Russia?

[Dominic Raab]

I do not think that many people take issue with the convention. Of course, it was negotiated at a very different time and place. The real issue has been the mission creep and the expanding and elastic interpretations of the ECHR since that time. I am confident that, with the Bill of Rights, we can address that in a comprehensive way.