European Convention of Human Rights: The pros and cons of leaving

Home Secretary Theresa May has called for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) regardless of the outcome of the European Union referendum.

May, who is in favour of the UK remaining in the EU, said severing ties with Strasbourg would give British courts greater powers to deport foreign criminals.

"If we want to reform human rights laws in this country, it isn't the EU we should leave but the ECHR and the jurisdiction of its court," she told crowds in London yesterday.

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This is in stark contrast to government plans, which involve replacing the Human Rights Act with a so-called British bill of rights, but not leaving the convention altogether.

One minister described May's intervention as extraordinary. "This is not government policy," he told the Daily Mail. "It's all about her positioning for the [Conservative] leadership."

Labour and human rights groups responded angrily to the Home Secretary's comments.

"What a backward step that would be. What a terrible message to send to the world," said shadow home secretary Andy Burnham, who vowed to fight the plans "all the way".

What is the ECHR?

The convention, which is separate from the EU, was adopted in 1950 in response to the horrors of the Second World War. It was primarily drafted by British lawyers to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent and led to the establishment of the European Court of Human Rights.

It also served as the basis for the British Human Rights Act, which was introduced by Labour in 1998 and voted in with cross-party support. It protects 15 fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to life, privacy and free speech.

Why do critics say we should leave?

Opponents often cite a controversial ruling on prisoner voting and the cases of clerics such as Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada, who were charged with terrorism offenses abroad but avoided extradition from the UK for long periods due to legal battles with the ECHR.

May argues the court "can bind the hands of parliament, adds nothing to our prosperity [and] makes us less secure by preventing the deportation of dangerous foreign nationals". She also says it "does nothing" to change the attitudes of governments in countries such as Russia when it comes to human rights.

Why do supporters say we should stay?

As with leaving the EU, an exit would be unprecedented and the outcome difficult to predict. However, lawyers and human rights campaigners believe the impacts would be severe.

"It is a testament to how much of an outlier the UK would become if it withdrew from the court's jurisdiction that we don't really know what the legal and political effects would be," says Adam Wagner, a barrister and the editor of UK Human Rights Blog.

He argues that cutting ties with Strasbourg would not stop the courts preventing the removal of foreign criminals. "The vast majority of human cases, including those involving immigration and extradition, are decided by our own courts," he said.

Liberty, the independent human rights group, argues that British courts are not required to "blindly" follow the judgments of the European court; they need only "take account" of them.

"[The convention] is the most successful system for the enforcement of human rights in the history of the world and every day it helps bring freedom, justice and the rule of law to 820 million people," Bella Sankey, the organisation's policy director, told the The Independent.

The former president of the ECHR, Judge Dean Spielmann, previously warned it would be a "political disaster" for the UK to leave the convention.

A comedy sketch produced by The Guardian, starring actor Patrick Stewart as the prime minister, also attempts to highlight some of the advantage of the ECHR. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"94113","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]