Meddling Euro judges risk planting seeds of own destruction by overreaching in domestic politics, warns Lord Cameron
EURO judges risk planting the seeds of their own destruction by meddling in domestic politics, Lord Cameron has warned.
Their ruling against Switzerland for not doing enough on climate change was a dangerous overreach, the Foreign Secretary said yesterday.
Many Tory MPs want to leave the European Court of Human Rights to stop it thwarting efforts to stop illegal migration.
Rishi Sunak has vowed to quit the Strasbourg court if it blocks flights to Rwanda.
While Lord Cameron said there were no plans to leave the ECHR, he put its judges on notice that members would not tolerate them blocking elected governments.
He told peers: “There are occasions this court does overreach itself — we saw one last week with a judgment against Switzerland.
“I think it’s dangerous because ultimately we’re going to solve climate change through political will and the arguments we put to the electorate.
“These organisations do good work, but if they overreach they plant the seeds of their own destruction.”
A rump of Tory MPs are lobbying the PM to put leaving the ECHR in the party’s election manifesto.
Yesterday former Home Secretary Suella Braverman said our membership of the court is “choking” British democracy.
Speaking at the National Conservatism conference, she said: “Until we are rid of it, our governments will find themselves impotent.
“Through a combination of the ECHR and Labour’s Human Rights Act, the Strasbourg Court is delivering judgements that too often favour the rights of the criminal minority over the rights and safety of the law-abiding majority.”