Tories' stance on human rights convention ‘very worrying’, says Sinn Féin

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The leader of Sinn Féin and the Northern Ireland Secretary are among those who have criticised Tory calls to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said every party candidate must sign up to leaving the ECHR or face being barred from standing at the next election.

She kicked off the annual Tory conference in Manchester with a pledge to leave the ECHR as part of a plan to deport 150,000 people a year from the UK.

The British state, whoever is in government, cannot walk away from the commitments that have been solemnly undertaken with Ireland in respect of the six counties

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described Ms Badenoch’s comments as “very worrying” while Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said the stance was “utterly irresponsible”.

Reform has also advocated for a withdrawal from the ECHR.

Speaking to the PA news agency on Sunday, Ms McDonald said the ECHR is an “essential building block” of the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed as part of the peace process to end the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

She said: “Everybody in British public life should know that.

“So that is a very worrying statement and just to be clear: the British state, whoever is in government, cannot walk away from the commitments that have been solemnly undertaken with Ireland in respect of the six counties.”

Mr Benn accused the Conservative Party of advocating a policy that could undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

In a statement on social media, Mr Benn said: “When the Northern Ireland Bill to implement the Good Friday Agreement was debated in the House of Commons on July 20 1998, the then Conservative opposition gave it its full support.

“The GFA has resulted in over 27 years of peace after the trauma of the Troubles.

“And yet the Conservative Party has now joined Reform in advocating a policy that could undermine the Good Friday Agreement – namely by proposing to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights.

“Until recently, it was completely unthinkable that a party aspiring to govern the United Kingdom would countenance putting that agreement at risk, given that ECHR membership is one of the GFA’s founding pillars.

“Or that they would seek to put the UK in the same group as Belarus and Russia as the only three countries in Europe which would not be signatories to the convention. Utterly irresponsible.”