Sir Keir Starmer has said anyone who is proposing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are "not serious" after Nigel Farage revealed plans to do exactly that.
The Reform UK leader has long supported leaving the convention and said the Good Friday Agreement could be "renegotiated" to remove references to it.
The Human Rights Act, which brings the convention into law, would be replaced with a British Bill of Rights under the party's plans.
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This would only apply to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in Britain.
The Prime Minister has however defended the ECHR and ruled out leaving it.
After Mr Farage revealed a series of legal changes his party planned to make to crackdown on illegal immigration, Mr Starmer's official spokesman said: "The ECHR underpins key international agreements, trade, security and migration and the Good Friday Agreement.
"Anyone who is proposing to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement is not serious.”
"We’re focused on the very serious policies to address this issue rather than a return to the gimmicks, the slogans, the chaos of the previous government," the spokesman added.
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Sir Keir Starmer's official spokesman said anyone who is proposing to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement is 'not serious'
|PA
Instead of leaving the convention, Government officials have stood by the fact that it should instead be reformed.
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook - who described Reform's plans as "unworkable gimmicks" - told The Times: “[The ECHR] underpins a series of incredibly important agreements, including the Good Friday agreement.
“We want to reform it in conjunction with European partners, not by withdrawing from it unilaterally or suspending it. That would put us in a club with Russia and Belarus."
Mr Farage, joined by Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf, launched his party’s plans to tackle illegal immigration at an event at London Oxford Airport yesterday, warning of a “genuine threat to public order" if no action was taken.
Nigel Farage has long supported Britain leaving the ECHR
|GETTY
Reform UK described it as “operation restoring justice” as a five-year emergency programme to detain and deport illegal migrants and deter future arrivals that they would enact if elected to government.
The party has pledged to scale up detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and secure deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran to return migrants to their countries.
Mr Farage however failed to answer when asked how much he would be prepared to pay to Iran and the Taliban to take deportees back.
He and Mr Yusuf also suggested some 600,000 or more people could be deported under the plans.
Reform UK calls its five-year emergency programme to detain and deport illegal migrants 'operation restoring justice'
|GETTY
Downing Street criticised Mr Farage’s plans as “old gimmicks”, while emphasising Mr Starmer’s grasp of the public’s “strength of feeling” on the issue of small boat crossings.
Asked whether the Government could seek deals with Afghanistan and Eritrea, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’re not going to take anything off the table in terms of striking returns agreements with countries around the world.”
The official denied Mr Farage’s claim that the country was at risk of civil disorder while stressing ministers “recognise the strength of feeling about this”.
“That’s why we’re taking serious practical action to address this issue, not just returning back to the old gimmicks, the old solutions that failed to deal with this,” Mr Starmer's spokesman said.