Sir Keir Starmer should "decouple" British laws from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to allow more small boat migrants to be deported, a former Labour Home Secretary has said.
Jack Straw, who oversaw the incorporation of the ECHR into British law during Sir Tony Blair's premiership under the 1998 Human Rights Act, warned it was now being "misused" by British courts.
Mr Straw is now the third figure from the New Labour era to urge, following the Brexit-backing ex-Cabinet Minister Graham Stringer and former Home Secretary Lord Blunkett.
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Speaking to The Financial Times, Mr Straw said: "There is no doubt at all that the convention — and crucially its interpretation — is now being used in ways which were never, ever intended when the instrument was drafted in the late forties and early fifties."
The ex-Blackburn MP added: “The situation is more serious than the one I faced in the late 90s and early 00s.
“We had a high level of popular support, there was no Reform Party and the Tories were flat on their back”.
Illegal crossings made from France to the UK were also different during the early days of New Labour.
Migrants often attempted to sneak into the UK on the back of lorries, rather than via small boats.
Keir Starmer open to return deals with Afghanistan and Eritrea just after Nigel Farage outlines deportation plans | PAThe number was significantly lower than the figure of migrants crossing the Channel on small boats since 2018, with more than 52,000 reaching British shores since Sir Keir Starmer came to power last July.
Despite Reform UK leader Nigel Farage advocating for the UK to leave the ECHR, the Prime Minister remains steadfastly against the suggestion.
A No10 spokesman said: “Let’s be clear: the ECHR underpins key international agreements on trade, security, migration and the Good Friday agreement.
"Anyone who is proposing to renegotiate the Good Friday agreement is not serious."
Lord Blunkett, Graham Stringer and Jack Straw have been calling for tougher action on the ECHR
|PA
He added: “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.”
Sir Keir, who was formerly a human rights lawyer, is also convinced that leaving the Strasbourg court would put the UK on an equal footing with Russia and Belarus.
However, those advocating for the UK to cut ties with the ECHR point out that the United States, Australia and New Zealand have not signed up to the convention.
Mr Farage is calling for the UK to unilaterally leave the ECHR after a number of legal obstacles halted Rishi Sunak's Rwanda plan.
Reform UK calls its five-year emergency programme to detain and deport illegal migrants 'operation restoring justice' | GETTYThe Reform UK leader is also pushing for the repeal of Tony Blair's Human Rights Act and the creation of a British Bill of Rights.
Speaking in Oxfordshire earlier today, Mr Farage said: “Blair, of course, wrote the ECHR into everything.
“He wrote it into everything to try and embed it deeply in British law.
“Can we renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement to get the ECHR out of it? Yes.
More than 28,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel this year so far | REUTERS"Is that something that can happen very, very quickly? No, it will take longer.
“So, unfortunately and for a variety of reasons, previous governments have placed Northern Ireland, I’m afraid, in a different position to the rest of the United Kingdom, something that we vigorously opposed. It will take a little bit longer with Northern Ireland.”
Dover & Deal MP Mike Tapp, who regularly swipes at Reform UK on social media, also appeared to take a more hardline stance on the ECHR earlier today.
In a social media post, the Labour MP said: "We're not a nation to be walked over and some judgements of the ECHR are abusing it.
"Article 3 and Article 8 are being misinterpreted and that needs sorting. We're firm but we're fair. If we can't deport foreign paedophiles then something's going wrong."