Sir Keir Starmer’s support for the European human rights system is unequivocal, the attorney-general has said, as he called for Britons to celebrate the institution as a “point of national pride”.
Lord Hermer told a senior group of peers and MPs that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) “reflects universal values”, amid growing concern from No 10 over how it is applied in British courts.
Hermer said there was “a lot of misinformation which is being whipped up in the context of asylum and immigration and especially Article 8”, the right to private and family life.
A review of how the ECHR is applied in asylum cases was announced by Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, last week.
Hermer backed the move, saying there was “real merit in checking that Article 8 is being properly understood and applied”.
The Conservatives have called for “fundamental” reform of human rights law after a string of recent deportation cases.
These include the case of an Albanian criminal jailed for more than three years for running a cannabis factory who avoided deportation after asylum tribunal appeal judges ruled that it would deprive his daughter of a “male role model”, and a Polish drug dealer allowed to stay in the country because he claimed not to be able to speak his native language.
Cooper’s review is likely to recommend stronger guidance to lower-tier judges on the interpretation of the ECHR, sources close to the review said.
Hermer said that the “prime minister has made plain our unequivocal support for the convention”. He added: “On this 75th anniversary of the creation of the convention … this is a moment to celebrate it.
“It is also a point of national pride. The Council of Europe was created under the leadership of Winston Churchill and many of the provisions drafted by British lawyers.”
He said: “Although the convention reflects universal values, they are a reflection of great, longstanding British values enshrined in our common law.”
Hermer has faced criticism from cabinet ministers over claims that his changes to legal advice last year have led to an effective “freeze on government”.
However, the attorney-general told the joint parliamentary committee on human rights that the previous guidance meant ministers would not realise when a move was “highly likely to be unlawful”.
He said: “I don’t think in any sense that is blocking or slowing up a government that wants to abide by the rule of law and ministers who want to abide by the ministerial code.”
Some in No 10 are keen to go further than a review of Article 8, for example with a proposal to limit the ECHR’s scope only to British citizens in a campaign against “rule by lawyers”.
Starmer told European leaders last year that the UK would “never withdraw” from the convention. Hermer went further in January, saying that the government would “never … refuse to comply with judgments of the court”.
The attorney-general also appeared to take a swipe at Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, who in February criticised a judge’s decision to allow Palestinian refugees to come to the UK from Gaza as “an outrageous example of judicial overreach”.
Hermer said: “We are entering a dangerous moment in which not simply on social media but indeed on the floor of the House of Commons, people are attacking judges on a personal basis. That is entirely unacceptable and creates a huge threat to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.”
Jenrick responded that “the rule of law does not prevent politicians, or indeed any other citizen, from publicly disagreeing with a judge’s decision”.
He added: “The attorney-general seems intent on hijacking the rule of law in favour of rule by lawyers. If judges step into the political arena, they should expect a political response. But instead of asserting control, Keir Starmer is being ruled by lawyers.”
