Labour MPs have turned on Sir Keir Starmer over immigration ahead of the local elections. Two backbenchers broke ranks to suggest the Prime Minister must be prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to get a grip on Channel crossings and tackle the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Blackley and Middleton South MP Graham Stringer told The Telegraph: “If the results are as bad as predicted on Thursday, the Labour Party mustn’t come out and say it’s a question of just communicating our policies better. Most of all, we need to take control of the borders. If that means renegotiating or changing our international obligations, then we need to do that. But we cannot continue to have open borders because of laws passed in the early 1950s.”
Asked if leaving the ECHR should be an option, Mr Stringer added: “Certainly. Either modifying or leaving it. To use a cliché, you wouldn’t buy a car or anything else made in 1951.
“Why should we accept international treaties that were appropriate midway through the last century? We need to either renegotiate or change them.”
Another backbencher said: “Nearly a year in and boat crossings unchanged. We need to be bold and walk the walk now, not just talk tough.”
They added that quitting the ECHR should be “on the table” in order to tackle the issue.
It comes as the number of migrants who have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the English Channel has passed 10,000 in record time.
Reform leader Mr Farage has backed pulling Britain out of the international agreement.
His insurgent party is expected to perform well in Thursday’s local elections as voters across parts of England take to the polls to elect councillors, regional mayors, and a new MP in the seat of Runcorn and Helsby.
The issue of leaving the ECHR has also been hotly debated by the Tories, with those on the right of the party wanting to cut ties.
