Major talks on changes to ECHR migration rules set to start

Sir Keir Starmer has urged European leaders to reform human rights laws to make it easier to deport illegal migrants ahead of crucial talks on a potential shake-up of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The government has already announced plans to restrict asylum seekers using the "right to family life" clause in the ECHR to avoid deportation from the UK.

Now the prime minister is urging fellow ECHR members to change the rules to make it easier for states to target people smuggling and set up "returns hubs" to hold people with no right to be in Europe, ahead of talks in Strasbourg.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have called for withdrawal from the ECHR altogether.

But Sir Keir is calling instead for the ECHR to be updated to confront the challenges posed by mass migration.

He argues in an article for the Guardian newspaper that urgent reforms to the convention are needed to defeat "the forces of hate and division" he says are growing across Europe.

"Listening to legitimate concerns and acting on them is what our politics is about," the PM wrote in a joint article with Danish leader Mette Frederiksen.

"That's not empty populism, it's democracy. We are determined to show that our societies can act with compassion while upholding law and order, and fairness."

Critics say the ECHR is getting in the way of removing more illegal migrants, while supporters say claims about the ECHR's role in migration cases are exaggerated.

The talks in Strasbourg are expected to cover difficult issues including combating migrant smuggling and how to create human rights compliant "returns hubs" - centres outside of Europe where migrants could be forcibly housed if they can not be returned to dangerous countries.

They will also cover the complex rules of Article 8, the right to family life, and Article 3, the ban on inhumane treatment, which feature in many migration cases.

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