Peace deal is no block to Britain leaving ECHR, new report says

Britain quitting the ECHR would not breach the historic Good Friday Agreement, a new report claims. It says claims that the UK cannot withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights because of commitments made in the peace deal are "entirely groundless".

One of the authors of the paper from the Policy Exchange said public debate about human rights law reform has been "distorted" by the repeated assertion that withdrawal from the ECHR would breach the historic agreement.

The 1998 Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement largely ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland and led to the establishment of the powersharing Stormont Assembly.

It was backed by referendums on both sides of the Irish border.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has ordered a review into whether the UK should quit the ECHR, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has long supported leaving it.

In a speech last week to launch his party's plans to tackle illegal migration, Mr Farage said the Good Friday Agreement could be "renegotiated" to remove references to the convention.

His comments were criticised by some politicians in Northern Ireland who argued the ECHR underpins the agreement.

But the Policy Exchange report said "nothing in the UK's commitments to the peace process in Northern Ireland requires it to remain a part of the ECHR".

It adds that "it is clear that the Belfast Agreement does not forbid the UK (or Ireland) from exercising its right in international law to withdraw from the ECHR."

The report continues: "Whatever the merits of UK withdrawal from the ECHR, nothing in the Belfast Agreement rules it out as a viable course of action."

One of the authors of the paper, Professor Richard Ekins, said: "Neither the letter nor the spirit of the Belfast Agreement in any way requires the UK - or Ireland - to remain within the ECHR."

The document has received the endorsement of former Labour home secretary and foreign secretary Jack Straw.

He said: "I am not persuaded that the UK needs to withdraw from the ECHR the better to deal with the unacceptable number of unlawful and unfounded asylum seekers.

"Rather, I believe that we should de-couple our own human rights legislation from the convention (as other European countries have done).

"But the debate about our future relationship with the ECHR and its parent body, the Council of Europe, should be conducted on its merits."

Downing Street has previously ruled out leaving the ECHR, with Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman saying: "The ECHR underpins key international agreements, trade, security and migration and the Good Friday Agreement."