Michael Zander QC on the Home Secretary’s attempt to justify withdrawal from the ECHR while remaining in the EU
Theresa May certainly got a reaction when she urged last week (25 April) that while remaining in the EU, the UK should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In her first speech of the EU referendum campaign, Mrs May said we should leave the ECHR because “it can bind the hands of Parliament” and “makes us less secure by preventing the deportation of dangerous foreign nationals”.
She was swiftly and categorically slapped down by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Justice, the minister in charge of the topic, who told MPs that he agreed with former Attorney General Dominic Grieve. “Both of us believe that we should remain within the European Convention on Human Rights”. His junior minister, Mr Dominic Raab, and the present Attorney General, Mr Jeremy Wright QC, responding to an urgent question in the Commons on 26 April both confirmed that the government’s policy was to remain part of the ECHR. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg,
