Keir Starmer urges European leaders to reform human rights laws to tackle illegal migration

Sir Keir Starmer has urged European leaders to reform human rights laws to make it easier to deport illegal migrants ahead of crucial talks on a potential shake-up of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The government has already announced plans to restrict asylum seekers using the “right to family life” clause in the ECHR to avoid deportation from the UK.

Now the prime minister is urging fellow ECHR members to change the rules to make it easier for states to target people smuggling and set up “returns hubs” to hold people with no right to be in Europe, ahead of talks in Strasbourg.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have called for withdrawal from the ECHR altogether.

But Sir Keir is calling instead for the ECHR to be updated to confront the challenges posed by mass migration.

He argues in an article for the Guardian newspaper that urgent reforms to the convention are needed to defeat “the forces of hate and division” he says are growing across Europe.

“Listening to legitimate concerns and acting on them is what our politics is about,” the PM wrote in a joint article with Danish leader Mette Frederiksen.

“That’s not empty populism, it’s democracy. We are determined to show that our societies can act with compassion while upholding law and order, and fairness.”

Critics say the ECHR is getting in the way of removing more illegal migrants, while supporters say claims about the ECHR’s role in migration cases are exaggerated.

The talks in Strasbourg are expected to cover difficult issues including combating migrant smuggling and how to create human rights compliant “returns hubs” – centres outside of Europe where migrants could be forcibly housed if they can not be returned to dangerous countries.

They will also cover the complex rules of Article 8, the right to family life, and Article 3, the ban on inhumane treatment, which feature in many migration cases.

Justice Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Lord Hermer have travelled to Strasbourg to take part in the talks.

Lammy is expected to say: “The definition of ‘family life’ can’t be stretched to prevent the removal of people with no right to remain in the country… the threshold of ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ must be constrained to the most serious issues… and states must be able to take proportionate decisions on the removal of foreign criminals.”

He will say that the convention is “a critical foundation of peace, stability, and security in Europe” but will add that it was “never intended to be frozen in time”.

The BBC understands that the aim is for member states to reach a political declaration by the spring which would set how the ECHR is applied in migration cases.

If such an agreement were achieved, it could be one of the most important reforms to how human rights law is applied in the 75-year history of the convention.

The meeting at the Council of Europe, the political body that agrees the human rights laws which are then applied by the court, comes after months of pressure over migration.

Nine members of the human rights body, led by Italy and Denmark, called earlier this year for reforms.

The UK did not sign that open letter – but it has been lobbying behind the scenes for talks on reforms.

Membership of the convention has become increasingly contentious in the UK in recent years.

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have said they would leave it if they won the next election.

Kemi Badenoch has said leaving would not be a “silver bullet” but was a necessary step to “protect our borders, our veterans and our citizens”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he would oppose such a move saying the convention “upholds our freedom” and would “do nothing to stop the boats or fix our broken immigration system”.

The UK’s already-announced domestic plan includes legislating to restrict how the right to private and family life applies in removal cases.

The BBC understands that if the meeting in Strasbourg is a success, officials will begin working with the member states on a political declaration to clarify how human rights laws should be applied to migration challenges – with a deadline of next May for the final wording.

In October Alain Berset, the head of the Council of Europe, told the BBC that he was “absolutely ready” to discuss human rights reforms.

That olive branch to member states came after months of diplomatic talks paving the way for Wednesday’s meeting.

“The European Convention on Human Rights provides the framework we need to address these issues effectively and responsibly,” said Berset ahead of the meeting.

“Our task is not to weaken the Convention, but to keep it strong and relevant – to ensure that liberty and security, justice and responsibility, are held in balance.”