Former Labour home secretary Lord Blunkett has called on Sir Keir Starmer’s government to consider temporarily suspending parts of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to accelerate the deportation of rejected asylum seekers.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Blunkett said a radical step may be required to address growing public anger over the use of hotels to house more than 32,000 asylum seekers.
He argued that suspending limited elements of the ECHR for a period of up to six months could help clear the mounting backlog of appeals.
More than 50,000 migrants have lodged appeals against rejected asylum claims double the number a year ago. Many cite ECHR protections, particularly Article 3 (protection against inhuman treatment and persecution) and Article 8 (right to family life), in their legal challenges.
What Blunkett said
“We are going to have to look at not pulling out of the ECHR or the UN Refugee Convention, but perhaps temporarily suspending certain elements until we can actually get a grip. The Germans did it for three months. We may need six months to stop repeated appeals and ensure more people can be returned to their countries of origin.”
The proposal goes further than measures already set out by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who has sought to limit judges’ ability to use Articles 3 and 8 to block deportations. However, it falls short of Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s approach, who has ordered a review into leaving the ECHR altogether and is expected to outline plans at her party’s autumn conference.
Blunkett also suggested the UK should press France to tighten laws on boat ownership through a licensing system, which would allow police to seize or block dinghies before they reached the Channel. “That way,” he said, “they could be intercepted not only in warehouses but before they even hit the water.”
He further backed Cooper’s decision to appeal against a High Court ruling that blocked the use of a migrant hotel in Epping, Essex, describing the judgment as perverse and contrary to the Home Secretary’s legal duty to house destitute asylum seekers.
Nearly 28,000 people have crossed the channel so far this year the highest total at this stage since small boat arrivals began in 2018.
