UK Top 10 News

Kemi Badenoch has dramatically announced that the Conservatives will commit to withdrawing the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if they are returned to government at the next election, marking a sharp and decisive shift in party policy.
The announcement, made on the eve of the party's annual conference in Manchester, is intended to settle the party’s divisive internal debate over the issue and respond to growing pressure from Reform UK, which has also pledged to leave the treaty.
Badenoch, who previously argued that leaving the ECHR was not a 'silver bullet' for immigration, now argues the move is 'necessary to protect our borders, our veterans and our citizens.' This change of heart follows a detailed legal review led by Shadow Attorney General Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, which concluded that the ECHR places 'significant constraints' on the government’s ability to enact key policy proposals.
These constrained areas include deporting foreign criminals and illegal immigrants, protecting military veterans from legal action, prioritising British citizens in public service access, and preventing courts from using climate change laws to block planning reforms.
The announcement immediately drew political fire, with a Labour spokesperson accusing Badenoch of adopting a policy she once argued against because she is 'too weak to stand up to her own party in the face of Reform.' Critics warn that leaving the ECHR, as noted by a Cambridge professor, would risk breaching both the Good Friday Agreement and the UK-EU trade deal, isolating the UK alongside only Russia.
However, Lord Wolfson’s advice reportedly found that withdrawal would not breach either the Belfast Agreement or the Windsor Framework, bolstering the Conservative's hard-line stance.