Sir Keir Starmer is facing a revolt in the House of Lords over judges’ rulings on migrant deportation appeals being kept secret. A proposed new law tabled by peers would force first-tier immigration tribunals to publicise their judgements on whether criminals from foreign countries and failed asylum seekers should stay in Britain.
Peers argue that public scrutiny of such decisions will hold judges to account and ensure they carry out their duties properly. It comes after a series of cases emerged in which the rights of migrants were given priority over public safety. In February it emerged a tribunal ruled that an Albanian criminal was allowed to stay in the UK in part because his son didn’t like foreign chicken nuggets.
News of the case sparked an angry response from the public and led to a Home Office bid to appeal against the tribunal’s decision.
Amendments put forward by former Home Office minister Lord Murray would require all first-tier tribunal judgements to be published on a government website within three days of their being delivered.
The proposal is to be voted on at the end of October, but it is reportedly being opposed by the Labour Government, which wants to keep things are they are.
Lord Murray told The Telegraph: “There is absolutely no coherent basis for not publishing these decisions, and this is made all the worse because there is very signifcant public interest in this decision-making.”
He said publication would mean journalists or researchers would be free to analyse judges’ decision-making methods, adding it was “fair and appropriate” for the judgements to be published.
Lord Katz said the Government didn’t believe it was necessary to legislate in this area and the public can still apply to the first-tier tribunal to receive a copy of a decision.
Migrants appealing against deportation from Britain regularly cite the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which the Government wants to reform and the Conservatives want to pull the UK out of.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch kicked off her party’s annual conference in Manchester earlier this month with a pledge to leave the ECHR as part of a plan to deport 150,000 people a year from the UK.
Reform UK has also advocated for withdrawal from the ECHR.
Tory grandee, Baron Heseltine, who served as deputy prime minister to Sir John Major, argued attempts should be made to reform the ECHR if there was discontent about its powers.