Claim over leaving ECHR dismissed as 'groundless'

CLAIMS that the UK cannot withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because of commitments made in the Good Friday Agreement are “entirely groundless} a think-tank has claimed.

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One of the authors of the paper from the Policy Exchange said public debate about human rights law reform has been “distorted” by the repeated assertion that withdrawal from the ECHR would breach the historic peace deal.

The 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement largely ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland and led to the establishment of the power-sharing Stormont Assembly. It was backed by referendums on both sides of the Irish border.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has ordered a review into whether the UK should quit the ECHR, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has long supported leaving it.

In a speech last week to launch his party’s plans to tackle illegal migration, Mr Farage said the Good Friday Agreement could be “renegotiated” to remove references to the convention. His comments were criticised by some politicians in Northern Ireland who argued the ECHR underpins the agreement.

But the Policy Exchange said “nothing in the UK’s commitments to the peace process in Northern Ireland requires it to remain a part of the ECHR”