Ulster Unionist Leader Mike Nesbitt MLA has responded to comments from the Conservative Party Leader, Kemi Badenoch, who has stated it’s her party’s intention to leave the European Convention on Human Rights upon returning to Government. 

Mr Nesbitt said: “The Ulster Unionist Party negotiated the 1998 Agreement. Any suggestion of the UK leaving the ECHR, as suggested by Ms Badenoch, would cut across the principles of that Agreement, which guarantees access to the ECHR in law, a point the Conservative leader has said herself would be a point of ‘particular challenge’. 

“It’s important to note that convention isn’t some optional extra; it’s written into the Agreement as part of the rights and safeguards that underpin peace and stability here. To walk away from it would be destabilising, destructive and potentially undermining of Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. Hence, it would be a strategic mistake.

“The real problem with the ECHR is how it is interpreted by our own courts.

“Ms Badenoch’s position speaks more of her party’s insecurity and hard turn right to combat Nigel Farage than acknowledging the failings of the previous Conservative Government’s handling of our immigration system.

“Let me make this clear: illegal migration is wrong, but immigration isn’t wrong. There are many people who come to this country legally and make a positive contribution to our society, and they too are rightly concerned about illegal migration. 

“Kemi Badenoch and her colleagues should think again; they should respect the terms of the Belfast Agreement and focus on strengthening the Union through stability and integrity, not party political calculations.”

ENDS