Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch declared war on activist judges at home and abroad as she declared: “Britain is being mugged.” A broken legal system has allowed sex offenders to avoid deportation, eco-fanatics to block roads and terrorists to walk free, she said.
Mrs Badenoch vowed a Conservative government would bring an end to “lawfare” which is turning the UK into “the world’s softest touch” for asylum seekers. This is likely to mean leaving the European Convention on Human Rights as well as taking on “a legal culture that’s become more interested in political activism”.
She made the pledges in a major speech launching a fight-back against Labour and Reform, as Tories languish in third place in the polls. In a swipe at Reform’s plans to spend billions ending the two-child benefit cap, she dubbed it “a left-wing party”.
Mrs Badenoch confirmed that she had appointed leading barrister Lord Wolfson, the shadow Attorney General, and Helen Grant, the shadow Solicitor General, to lead a review into how the UK could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The results will form part of a major announcement at the Conservative Party conference in October.
The UK joined the Convention in 1951 and it is now incorporated into UK law through the Human Rights Act, as well as enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. But Mrs Badenoch said: “The ECHR is now being used in ways never intended by its original authors. It should be a shield to protect, instead it’s become a sword. A sword used to attack democratic decisions and common sense.”
The Convention had been used to stop foreign criminals guilty of “horrific abuse” being deported, the Tory leader said. Highlighting one shocking example, she said: “Two of the Rochdale grooming gang ringleaders, Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf, fought deportation by claiming their “right to a family life” under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Rauf even gave up his Pakistani citizenship, just to make sure we couldn’t send him back.
“He lost his appeals and yet, he’s still here still in Rochdale. Still living among the lives he destroyed.”
The Tory review is to consider how foreign criminals and illegal immigrants can be removed; how to stop British veterans being pursued through the courts; how British citizens can be put at the front of the queue for housing and public services; how disruptive protests that block roads can be stopped, and how to prevent “endless legal challenges“ blocking infrastructure projects.
Mrs Badenoch took on Labour Attorney General Lord Hermer, who last week compared people who want to leave the European Convention to Nazis. The Conservative leader said: “This is the level of debate and analysis I have come to expect from this Labour government.”
However, she also made it clear that change was needed in British courts, as she highlighted “judges on immigration tribunals who appear – from public remarks they have made and from other work they engage in – to have personal views that make them seem not impartial.”
Charities and and pressure groups, often funded by taxpayers, were using the legal system to overturn decisions made by democratically-elected governments, she said.
The Tory leader suggested she could consider a Trump-style travel ban – after US President Donald Trump announced a total ban on travellers to the US from 12 countries including Afghanistan, Yemen and Iran, as well as a partial ban on visitors from seven other countries.
She said: “I think there are scenarios where that is viable. That doesn’t mean that I agree with what Donald Trump has done.”
However, she also faced questions about the Tories’ poll ratings, which consistently place the party in third place behind Reform and Labour, and the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election for the Scottish Parliament in which Conservatives received just six percent of the vote.
The Tory leader said: “Labour is going to be facing the Conservative Party at the next election and we’re going to get them out.”
And she insisted it took time to become an effective leader of the opposition, saying: “Every week it gets better and better. Every week I have more experience.”
The speech was welcomed by campaign group the Taxpayers’ Alliance. Head of campaigns Elliot Keck said: “Taxpayers will find it encouraging that leading politicians are waking up to the way in which the quangocracy at home and abroad is acting as a barrier to democratic decision making.”
Downing Street suggested reforms to the Convention could be needed after Alain Berset, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, said there should be “no taboo” about changing the rules. A Number 10 spokesman said: “Border security is vital to national security, and we welcome efforts to ensure the European Convention on Human Rights is being applied correctly and allowing countries to protect their borders.”
But Labour insisted “international law” was helping cut illegal immigration. A spokesman said: “Compliance with international law has helped us strike deals with France and Germany to crack down on criminal smuggling gangs, and underscores the Good Friday Agreement, which secures peace in Northern Ireland.
“Kemi Badenoch bemoaned the broken immigration and asylum system, but failed to mention it was her Party which broke it. The Tories had had fourteen years to fix our immigration system. This Labour Government is fixing the mess the Tories left behind. As part of our Plan for Change, this Labour Government has increased returns of those with no right to be here and is sending back more Foreign National Offenders.”
So far this year 14,812 people have arrived after crossing the Channel in small boats, up about 40% on the same period last year. They included almost 1,200 people who arrived on Saturday alone.
