Migration Watch UK
September 24, 2023
Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK said:
We have long been saying that both the Refugee Convention and ECHR are outdated and ill-suited to modern challenges.
The Home Secretary is right to call out the conventions but internationalising this in the way she proposes will simply kick the problem of illegal migration into the long grass. Our politicians should have the courage to put the interests of Britain and the British people first and give the necessary notice to withdraw from both the ECHR and 1951 Convention if substantial reform is not agreed.
The government could begin by calling for a referendum on the issue.
This quote is in response to the news that Suella Braverman has suggested that changes to international rules could be needed to tackle the migrant crisis ahead of a major speech in the United States.
According to the Press Association, the Home Secretary said:
Illegal migration and the unprecedented mass movement of people across the globe is placing unsustainable pressures on America, the UK, and Europe.
We must come together and ask whether the international conventions and legal frameworks designed 50-plus years ago are fit for purpose in an age of jet travel and smartphones.
I’m going to Washington to discuss this crisis with our American counterparts.
If we fail to meet these challenges, then our political institutions risk losing their democratic legitimacy.