A Manchester MP has become the first Labour MP to call for the UK to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Graham Stringer, who represents Blackley and Middleton South told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “What you’ve got to remember is most of the people crossing the Channel are young men, they have destroyed their papers before they get here, they’re coming from a completely civilised country in France.
“They’re paying international criminals to get here, and the courts are saying they have a right to stay under the refugee convention, I assume, and possibly other conventions. That doesn’t seem reasonable to me.”
Pressed to confirm whether he was suggesting the UK should withdraw from the ECHR and the Refugee Convention, Mr Stringer replied: “Yes.”
The Government plans to curb the use of Article 8 of the ECHR to appeal against asylum rejections, but not withdraw from the convention, which experts warn would imperil the Northern Ireland peace deal and other international agreements.
Earlier in the week the MP has also welcomed the ruling on the Epping Hotel
“I welcome the decision because the Home Office, over a long period of time, have run roughshod over local communities and local economies. They have not really taken into consideration local feelings,” he told GB News.
“It is a lesson to the Home Office that they cannot carry on with the policies they’re pursuing.”
