Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “look at” how UK courts apply human rights law on asylum cases, as he dubbed the small boats he is trying to stop crossing the English Channel “Farage boats”.
The Prime Minister said international laws, such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), would not be “torn down” by the Government, but that their legal interpretations would be reviewed in an effort to curb asylum claims.
Sir Keir stepped up his attacks on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who wants to exit the ECHR and other international treaties.
He said the Brexiteer had been “wrong” to claim that leaving the European Union would make no difference to migration policy, pointing to the Dublin Convention that allowed pre-Brexit Britain to return some asylum seekers to the continent.
Sir Keir told GB News: “I would gently point out to Nigel Farage and others that before we left the EU, we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU and he told the country it would make no difference if we left. He was wrong about that.
“These are Farage boats, in many senses, that are coming across the Channel.”
The Prime Minister said he still believed in the ECHR and other international protections, but said they needed to be properly applied in a modern context.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s Article 3, or Article 8, they’re the two that are most immediately in play.
“But it’s more than that, it’s the refugee conventions, it’s the torture conventions, it’s conventions on the rights of the children. I believe in those instruments, I believe in the rule of law, and I think they matter. But all international instruments, and this is long established, have to be applied in the circumstances as they are now.
“We’re seeing mass migration in a way that we haven’t seen in previous years. So I believe that those genuinely fleeing persecution should be afforded asylum, and that is a compassionate act. But I equally think we need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down, not tear them down, but look at the interpretation.”
Article 3 of the ECHR, on protection from torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment, and Article 8, on the right to private and family life, have been used to halt deportation attempts.
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said ministers would look at the “interpretation of some of these articles without walking away from the convention”.
He told the PA news agency: “For example, if someone is to be deported, the protection is against torture. But is it really torture if the prison conditions or some other conditions in that country don’t meet British standards? Most people would say that wasn’t torture.”
The Work and Pensions Secretary blamed Brexit for making it harder to remove migrants who arrive on UK shores in small boats.
Asked about Sir Keir’s claim that they were “Farage boats”, he told the PA news agency: “As a consequence of leaving the European Union: no Dublin agreement, no agreement at all, not even an imperfect one.
“And we’re having to rebuild from that position and reach new returns agreements with other countries.
“We’ve done a lot of good work with France recently. We want to do good work with other countries too, but we’re having to rebuild from that position that we inherited.”
It follows the Prime Minister’s speech at the Labour conference, in which he put controlling immigration, growing the economy and restoring pride in Britain at the heart of his plan to take on Mr Farage’s Reform UK.
He said securing the borders was a “reasonable demand”, but he hit out at people including Mr Farage who he said crossed a “moral line” on the issue.
Sir Keir and his colleagues repeatedly branded Reform’s policy to remove the right to remain from some migrants legally living in Britain as “racist” and “immoral”.
The Prime Minister stressed he did not believe Mr Farage or his supporters were racist.
He told Sky News: “No, nor do I think Reform voters are racist.
“They’re concerned about things like our borders, they’re frustrated about the pace of change.
“I’m not for a moment suggesting that they are racist.”
He said he had been talking about a “particular policy”, claiming Reform’s plans would see migrants who live in the UK lawfully deported, saying “that, to me, would tear our country apart”.
The Labour leader, who described Mr Farage as a “formidable politician”, declined to say whether he believed his opponent was courting racists with the policy, but said minorities in the UK felt a “shiver down their throat”.
Labour’s conference will conclude on Wednesday with speeches from Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
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