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TEAR IT UP
We need to abolish Human Rights Act & Supreme Court and leave ECHR to regain power, says Liz Truss
She joins a growing caucus of Tory MPs urging Rishi Sunak to commit to leaving the Strasbourg Court in the election manifesto
BRITAIN must leave the ECHR, tear up the Human Rights Act and even abolish the Supreme Court, Liz Truss has demanded.
The ex-PM launched a scathing take-down of the institutions she claims have been thwarting elected ministers.
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All three have been blamed by critics for frustrating the government’s Rwanda deportation plan at some point.
Speaking to The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show, Ms Truss said: “We've got to leave the ECHR, abolish the Supreme Court and abolish the Human Rights Act.”
Calling for a British Bill of Rights, she said: “The idea that human rights were only invented in 1997 is a Blair fiction.”
Ms Truss - Britain’s shortest serving-PM for 49 days between September and October 2022 - said the UK should quit the European Court of Human Rights without a referendum.
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She joins a growing caucus of Tory MPs urging Rishi Sunak to commit to leaving the Strasbourg Court in the election manifesto.
The first Rwanda flight set to take off in 2022 was blocked on the runway following a last-gasp injunction from an anonymous ECHR judge.
What is the ECHR and why do people want to leave it?
What is the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction in the 46 countries that are subscribed to the European Convention of Human Rights.
Based in Strasbourg, its judges rule on possible breaches of the 16 Articles that make up the Convention.
It emerged from the Second World War and has been in place since 1953 where Britain was a founding member.
The court is entirely separate from the European Union meaning the UK is still bound by its rulings.
Large sections of the Convention are enshrined in UK law via the 1998 Human Rights Act.
Why do critics want to leave it?
In recent years there have been growing calls to leave the ECHR, which critics accuse of becoming increasingly political.
This culminated in 2022, when an anonymous judge ordered the British government to abort its first Rwanda flight while the plane was on the runway.
Fears of overreach also boiled over last week when Strasbourg ruled against the Swiss Government for not doing enough to stop climate change.
Proponents of the ECHR say leaving would put Britain in the same club as Russia and Belarus as the continent’s only non-members.
But critics like Liz Truss hit back that many countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia have good human rights without needing a third party court.
What has Rishi Sunak said?
Rishi Sunak has said he would be prepared to quit the ECHR if that is what it takes to stop the boats.
He told our Never Mind The Ballots show: “I believe that border security and controlling illegal migration is more important than our membership of any foreign court.”
Separately, the Rwanda Bill gives ministers the powers to ignore the so-called “Pyjama Injunctions” which lets judges cast down eleventh-hour vetos in the dead of night.
PM Mr Sunak told The Sun earlier this month he would consider ending the UK’s 71-year ties with the ECHR if needed to stop the boats.
Ms Truss also took aim at the Supreme Court, which last year torpedoed the initial Rwanda plan and forced ministers to overturn the decision with fresh legislation.
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The ex-PM proposed reversing Tony Blair’s decision to create the court as a replacement to justices in the Lords.
The Safety of Rwanda Bill - expected to become law this week - also disapplies sections of the Human Rights Act to shut off legal appeal avenues for illegal migrants in UK courts.
The 1998 Act became enacted under New Labour to apply ECHR conventions into British law.
On Rwanda, Ms Truss said: “I believe it's a good policy. I think we should expand it to more countries rather than solely Rwanda. But it's fundamentally a good policy.
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“It's based on the policies you Australians use to deter, illegal immigrants. The problem is it's being blocked by the courts. That is the problem.
“This is what I'm saying, that we don't have a judiciary that is sufficiently accountable.”
Ministers are confident the Rwanda Bill will finally become law this week after months of wrangling.
MPs are set to approve it tonight, while peers are expected to cave tomorrow paving the way for King Charles to give it Royal Assent.
Downing Street today reaffirmed the PM's commitment to
WHAT IS THE RWANDA MIGRATION PLAN?
What is the Rwanda plan?
Under the plan, anyone who arrives in Britain illegally will be deported to Rwanda, a country in eastern Africa.
The government believes the threat of being removed to Rwanda will deter migrants from making the dangerous Channel crossing in small boats.
Once in Rwanda, their asylum claims will be processed but there is no route back to the UK, save for some exceptional circumstances such as individual safety concerns. Britain will pay for migrants to start a new life in Rwanda.
What’s the hold up?
First announced by Boris Johnson in 2022, the scheme has been bogged down by relentless legal challenges.
The first flight was due to take off in summer 2022, but was blocked on the runway at the last minute by a European Court order.
Since then the legality of the plan has been contested in the courts, culminating in a Supreme Court judgement in November last year which said Rwanda was unsafe for asylum seekers.
What is Sunak doing?
To salvage the Rwanda plan from the Supreme Court’s scathing ruling, Rishi Sunak announced a two-pronged workaround.
First, he would sign a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for asylum seekers that will be enshrined in law.
Second, he would introduce new legislation that would declare Rwanda a safe country.
It would mean courts, police and officials would have to treat it as safe unless there is a risk of individual and irreparable harm.
How long will that take?
The legislation has cleared the Commons but is now being held up in the House of Lords.
Rishi Sunak does not have a majority in the Lords, and peers are far more hostile to the plan.
They will likely send it back to the Commons with amendments watering down the scheme.
Such changes would be unconscionable to MPs who would strip out the measures and send it back.
This “ping-pong” will continue until either side - usually the unelected Lords - gives in and the Bill passes.
When will flights take off?
Mr Sunak wants to get the first flights sent to Rwanda by the spring.
But potential hurdles include more court battles launched by individual migrants or the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Sunak has vowed to ignore any more orders by Strasbourg judges to ground planes, although individual appeals in domestic courts could prove tricky.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will scrap the scheme if he is elected PM, even if it is working
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