LONDON (Reuters) – Britain should consider leaving the European Convention on Human Rights because it interferes with the government’s ability to fight crime and control immigration, Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said yesterday.
May’s Conservative Party has long criticised the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which enforces the convention, as an encroachment on British sovereignty.
But supporters of the convention say it is an important safeguard of human rights in Britain, which does not have a written constitution enshrining fundamental rights.
In a speech to a pro-Conservative political conference, May said that ahead of the next general election in 2015 her party should commit to tackling the issue.
“By 2015 we’ll need a plan for dealing with the European Court of Human Rights. And yes, I want to be clear that all options – including leaving the convention altogether – should be on the table,” May said.
