The former Chairman of the Conservative party Sir Jake Berry has said he is backing Tom Tugendhat to be the next leader of the party.
Sir Jake said that he believed the UK should withdraw from the ECHR in order to be able to control immigration and said he felt Tugendhat ‘should have gone further’ in his statement.
Speaking on GB News Sir Jake Berry said: “If you believe in a sovereign immigration policy, you should believe in what I believe, which is that we should withdraw from the ECHR.
“I actually don't think we need a referendum. I think this is about political leadership: if it's right for the country politicians should get on and do it. You cannot have a sovereign immigration policy unless the ultimate court is a Sovereign Court.
“What Tom Tugendhat is talking about is that he believes that we will withdraw from the ECHR if everything else fails. My own personal view is he should have gone farther, but it's a big, big step away from Keir Starmer, who came out almost on his first day in the job and said, come hell, come high water, the ECHR is here to stay.
“That is wrong for Britain, and you will never get a grip on immigration or many of these other issues about national security, without having the bravery to say we should withdraw.
“I called years ago for us to leave the ECHR. I've consistently called for it and the Conservative Party should have done it.
“The reason [Labour] don't need to worry about it is that what you need to get out of the ECHR for is to grip immigration. They're clearly not going to do it.
They've effectively announced an amnesty for up to 90,000 people who, under the previous law that we passed, were unable to claim asylum because they came into the country illegally.
“He's got rid of Rwanda policy. Whether you think that was a gimmick or not, it was at least a big disincentive. And they closed things like the Bibby Stockholm barge, they're taking away the plan to put people in army camps.
“All the things that were disincentivizing people to come to this country, they've got rid of: it's a free for all. You can have an amnesty.
“If you let everyone stay you don't really need to worry about the ECHR, because they're not going to stop you letting everyone stay.
“I'm back in Tom [Tugendhat] just to put my cards on the table. I got to know Tom when we campaigned together to oppose Boris Johnson's crazy increase in national insurance, and he campaigned with me to oppose that against our own government.
“So all of these people who say, ‘Look, I'm a right winger, I'm a sort of low tax Tory, I judge people by what they do. And when Tom and I were campaigning against working people's taxes going up as Conservatives, none of the rest of them were.
“That's why I'm backing Tom, because I think he is a low tax proper Conservative.
“There's nothing wrong with the rest of them. He's just the best.”
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