"The former home secretary has questioned the ‘utility’ of Britain being bound by judges in Strasbourg"
Telegraph: 15th March 2025: The Telegraph reports on interventions from Jack Straw, urging the Prime Minister looks again at Britain's relationship with the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR].
"...Mr Straw has questioned the “utility” of Britain being bound by the court’s rulings and said human rights are “safe enough” under existing UK law.
The Cabinet veteran, who also served as foreign secretary and justice secretary under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, criticised the lack of a “democratic override” on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). He also said the court’s judgements were of “lower quality” than those delivered by British judges...
...Mr Straw is the first Labour grandee to call for Britain to reconsider its position on the the European court...
It follows a number of cases reported in The Telegraph that revealed how Article 8 was being used to keep foreign criminals in Britain.
These included an instance where an Albanian criminal won the right to stay in the UK after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, citing the convention...
...Mr Straw wrote in a letter to The Times: “Given the undoubted success of the HRA, the question that must now arise is: what utility is there in the UK being bound any more into the Strasbourg court? Not much, is my answer. The convention articles are safe enough within our own HRA.”...
...And Mr Straw appeared to throw his weight behind Government plans to water down Article 8 of the ECHR, which has been repeatedly used to block deportations..."