Is it time for the UK to quit the European Convention on Human Rights?

It used to be considered a "distasteful hobby horse of the radical Right", said Oliver Moody in The Times. Yet in the past few weeks, the cause of reforming the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has reached a "tipping point", driven by growing concerns about mass migration. Nine EU states, led by Denmark and Italy, have published an open letter demanding more sovereignty over how they combat irregular immigration and deport foreign criminals. They argue that, by blocking efforts to expel migrants, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has "extended the scope of the convention".

This week, the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch went further, launching a review into whether the UK should leave the ECHR altogether. Whatever the method, said The Times, "Strasbourg's wings must be clipped". When the treaty was created in 1950, it was designed "to prevent a resurgence of fascism". Now, activist judges are using parts of the treaty (such as the Article 8 "right to respect for family life") to prevent governments from ejecting convicted criminals. Unelected judges have effectively assumed control over "national borders".

There may be a case for reform, said The Guardian. Even the ECHR's supporters concede the treaty is not "unchallengeable or holy writ". But Badenoch made it quite clear last week that the nuclear option – quitting the ECHR – is now basically Tory policy. ("I do believe that we will likely need to leave," she declared.) Many Tories believe that leaving it would regain the party's "squandered popularity" and beat back Reform. "This is nonsensical politics", but it would also be "dangerous for Britain". Abandoning our seven-decade commitment to human rights would "delight authoritarians", and undermine "Britain's reputation for reliability".

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Badenoch would also face a significant obstacle, said D.A.T. Green in Prospect: withdrawing from the ECHR would breach the Good Friday Agreement, potentially jeopardising peace in Northern Ireland. A "wise" politician would drop this "hysterical" option and work with other European politicians to make Article 8 fit for purpose; that's what the Tories did in 2017 to resolve the "notorious issue of prisoner votes".

I'm no fan of the ECHR, said Daniel Hannan in The Sunday Telegraph, but let's not pretend leaving is "a skeleton key that unlocks every door". Other treaties, such as the UN Refugee Convention, are also used to challenge deportation orders. Would we have to leave them too? This isn't a simple problem, and anyone who pretends otherwise risks disappointing an already jaded British public – with a potentially perilous "impact on our democracy".