Tory MP Michael Fabricant has issued a defiant message on Britain’s future, arguing that it does not belong in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)
It comes as Strasbourg judges continue to provide a major stumbling block in the Government’s bid to send illegal migrants to Rwanda.
Rishi Sunak is said to be preparing to use new legal powers to ignore injections from the ECHR if the Supreme Court gives the policy a thumbs up in November.
According to Tory MP Michael Fabricant, the UK should ditch the European court should they fail to back the potential Supreme Court ruling.
Michael Fabricant says 'we don't need lessons' from France or Germany
GB NEWS
“If the ECHR stopped the Supreme Court from saying ‘yes, we can take people out to Rwanda’, and we can’t get an exemption, yes, we should leave”, he said.
“The UK Supreme Court should be the Supreme Court, it isn’t supreme if the ECHR can overrule it.”
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The first flight to remove illegal migrants to Rwanda was blocked last June by one unnamed ECHR judge assuring a rule 39 interim injunction.
The Government was forced to delay any flights until the Rwanda scheme’s legality had been determined in the UK courts.
The Supreme Court is preparing a three-day hearing on October 9, with a ruling set for November.
Fabricant said should the UK’s future lie outside the ECHR, the Government should continue to provide funding regardless as it helped to set it up in the first place.
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to stop the boats
GB News“We helped set up the ECHR, as did the United States, but the United States said ‘we don’t need a court in Strasbourg to teach us to be decent human beings’.
“And I say we don’t need to have lessons from French and Germans who did some pretty awful things in World War Two. Yes, the French too.
“This country can be proud of its human rights record. We should support the ECHR and help fund them.
“But to be told by the ECHR that our Supreme Court is wrong? That is not what it was set up for.”
The idea of leaving the ECHR was floated by Home Secretary Suella Braverman during a speech in Washington DC last week, saying: “I reject that notion that a country cannot be expected to respect human rights if it is not signed up to an international human rights organisation.”
Speaking on the issue, a Government spokesman told The Telegraph: “We are confident in our case and continue to defend the Rwanda partnership in the courts.
“We will not pre-empt the Supreme Court’s ruling.”
Rishi Sunak has faced a divide within his own party on the issue, with the Tory Reform Group, which includes ministers Tom Tugendhat and Victoria Atkins, urging the PM not to withdraw as a result of the Government’s Rwanda policy.
The group believe such a move could further damage the Northern Ireland peace process, as well as the UK’s ability to bring criminals to justice.
The Rwanda scheme is a major part of Rishi Sunak’s campaign to stop the boats, one of his key five pledges to Britain.