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The Conservatives will take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if they win the next election, Kemi Badenoch has announced.
The announcement comes after a review by the Conservative party's lead lawyer found staying in the ECHR blocks migration reform and leads to the persecution of military veterans.
Our ECHR report is the most serious, detailed piece of work any political party has produced.
We must leave the ECHR. It was set up with good intentions - but it has gone wrong. People who break into our country and should be deported are exploiting it to stay.
For years, politicians have promised to take back control. But time and again, when we tried to act in Britain’s interests, we were blocked. Not by voters, but by judges in Strasbourg.
The European Convention on Human Rights was never meant to overrule our democracy. Yet today, it is holding Britain back.
- It has stopped us from deporting foreign criminals.
- It has tied our hands on border security.
- It has been used to launch legal attacks on our veterans, and it’s made it harder to put British families first for housing and services.
Enough is enough.
That’s why we asked Lord Wolfson KC to carry out the most serious review ever undertaken of Britain’s ECHR membership.
The conclusion is clear: if we want to protect our borders, our veterans, and our democracy then….
Britain must leave the ECHR.
Leaving the ECHR isn’t easy, but it can be done and only the Conservatives are strong and capable enough to do it properly.
No other party has done the homework. No other party has the depth of talent to match what we have produced.
Unlike other parties who treat leaving like it’s a slogan or a silver bullet, we recognise the complexity.
That’s why we have a plan built on months of hard work and detailed legal preparation.
Respected former Reform UK MP, Rupert Lowe, said: "The ECHR stops us deporting foreign paedos, so let's leave the ECHR. This really isn't that complicated."
Leaving the ECHR will take courage, competence and careful reform. It will mean rewriting laws, reconfiguring international arrangements, and restoring the principle that British laws are made by the British Parliament.
Other parties will talk. They’ll posture. They’ll pretend this is easy, or that it doesn’t matter.
But they won‘t do the real hard work required. The public needs more than this and wants better than this.
This is about more than leaving a treaty. It’s about restoring trust in our democracy and giving power back to the people you elect.
People have been let down many times before. We know that now, more than ever, getting it right matters.
What do you think? Do you agree with our plan to leave?