The UK may finally leave the ECHR… thanks to Shamima Begum

The battle to take Britain out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights has been turbo-charged as a result of it demanding the UK justifies stripping ISIS bride Shamima Begum of her UK citizenship. The Conservatives and Reform UK are already committed to pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is overseen by the Strasbourg-based court.

There has been intense frustration at the way the Convention has been used to frustrate efforts to deport foreign criminals and people who have come to the UK illegally. Now, campaigners for a UK exit can say the court poses a threat to national security and British sovereignty.

Begum’s own lawyers described the Court’s intervention as an “unprecedented opportunity”. As soon as Parliament returns next week, Labour will be under pressure to set out how it will fight attempts to force the UK to let Begum back onto British soil.

Labour wants to reform the way the Convention is applied but millions of Britons will say Britain is better off out. The Convention and the Court were established in the wake of the horrors of World War II, with Europe threatened by Soviet Communism its use of state terror.

The Conservatives and Reform will argue that since then European judges have shamelessly interfered in matters which should be left to sovereign states. They will say Britain has sufficient safeguards to protect the human rights of its citizens and that no one in Strasbourg should challenge the decision to bar someone with links to a murderous terrorist group from returning to the UK.

The decision to revoke Begum’ citizenship was approved by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. She was then able to take her case to the Court of Appeal where her bid to regain her citizenship was unanimously dismissed.

Begum benefitted from the protections of the British justice system, with the Supreme Court ruling she cannot appeal to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision. Her lawyers then said they would petition the European Court of Human Rights.

It is precisely such tactics that have maddened those who believe Britain’s membership of the ECHR undermine both our justice system and the country’s sovereignty.

With a raft of elections looming in May, campaigners will say that pulling out of the Convention is not about whittling away the rights of British citizens but protecting the population from extremists.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick delivered an argument we can expect to hear many times in the coming months: “We can’t let a foreign court meddle in our national security.”

Labour hopes to secure a “political declaration” at a summit in May in an attempt to stop the Convention being used to block deportations of people who have come to the UK illegally.

But this triggers memories of David Cameron’s doomed efforts to reform the UK’s membership of the European Union. He failed to impress eurosceptics with the deal on the table and support for Brexit grew even stronger.

Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, will resist calls to take Britain out of the Convention. Defenders of the ECHR will warn withdrawal would delight those in Kremlin who want a divided Europe, and say it could cause chaos in Northern Ireland.

But if the British public decide leaving will make it easier to kick out thugs, deport illegal migrants and stop the likes of Begum returning, then Britain could cut its ties with the judges of Strasbourg.