Advertisement

UK election 2024: Sunak may harden stance on human rights pact as Farage shakes up race

  • Anti-immigration campaigner Nigel Farage will stand in the UK election next month
  • Rishi Sunak is seeking a game-changer as he tries to catch the Labour Party in polls

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a Conservative campaign bus on Saturday. Photo: AP
Rishi Sunak is considering hardening his Conservative Party’s position on the European Convention on Human Rights, as disastrous polling and Brexit architect Nigel Farage’s decision to stand for Reform UK in the general election leave the prime minister’s ruling party facing a potential wipe out.
Advertisement

Senior Tory party officials have sounded out ministers on the more moderate wing of the party over whether they could support a tougher stance on Britain’s membership of the human rights pact, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing policy that’s not finalised.

The ECHR is blamed by right-wingers in the Conservative Party for preventing a harsher crackdown on asylum seekers arriving in the UK. In that respect, the pact has emerged as the latest bugbear of Brexiteers disappointed that leaving the European Union has not resulted in a drop in net migration.

But there is disagreement among cabinet ministers over how hard to go. Some Conservative advisers are calling for Sunak to commit to working with European partners to reform the convention, or failing that, leave it. Other Tories have previously called for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the ECHR.

Nigel Farage will stand as a candidate for the anti-immigration Reform UK party. Photo: AFP
Nigel Farage will stand as a candidate for the anti-immigration Reform UK party. Photo: AFP

Many on the moderate side of the party – including several Cabinet ministers – oppose leaving the body.

Advertisement
loading
Advertisement