Conservative Partyโs Plan to Repeal Human Rights Laws
Speech by the leader of the Conservative party in Manchester
October 2025
These are some extracts from the speech Kemi Badenoch MP gave to the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week. We have selected those parts which focus on human rights issues and in particular the plan to leave the European Convention and to repeal the Human Rights Act.
โ[โฆ] It is fundamental, why canโt we control our borders and remove those who need to go? All these
questions boil down to who should make the laws that govern the United Kingdom? Conservatives, believe it should be our sovereign Parliament, accountable to the British people. The reality today, is that this is simply not the case.
โThis use of litigation as a political weapon is what I call lawfare. Well-meaning treaties and statutes โ like the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on Action against Trafficking drafted with the best of intentions in generations gone by, and more recent additions like the Modern Slavery Act, are now being used in ways never intended by their original authors.
โWhat should be shields to protect the vulnerable, have instead become swords to attack democratic decisions and frustrate common sense. It is that whole system which we need to reform. And the place to start is the European Convention on Human Rights.
Five tests that a country has to pass to be truly sovereign.
First, can we deport foreign criminals and those who are here illegally?
Second, can we stop our veterans being harassed through the courts?
Third, can we put British citizens first for social housing and public services?
Fourth, can we make sure protests do not intimidate people or stop them living their lives?
And fifth, can we stop endless red tape and legal challenges choking off economic growth?
[Lord Wolfson was commissioned to study the ECHR and our membership of it and produced a report the key conclusion was]
โWhen it comes to control of our sovereign borders, preventing our military veterans from being pursued indefinitely, ensuring prison sentences are applied rigorously for serious crimes, stopping disruptive protests, or placing blanket restrictions on foreign nationals in terms of social housing and benefits, the only way such positions are feasible would be to leave the ECHR.โ
Commitment to leave
[Badenoch] โWe must leave the ECHR and repeal the Human Rights Act. Conference, I want you to know that the next Conservative manifesto will contain our commitment to leave (our emphasis). Leaving the Convention is a necessary step, but not enough on its own to achieve our goals. If there are other treaties and laws, we need to revise or revisit then we will do so. And we will do so in the same calm and responsible way, working out the detail before we rush to announce.
โThe rights we enjoy did not come from the ECHR. They were there for hundreds of years in our common law. Parliament has legislated over centuries to reflect and protect our freedoms. Human Rights in the United Kingdom did not start in 1998 with the Human Rights Act, and will not end with it. As we work through our detailed plan, we are clear that leaving the ECHR and repealing the Human Rights Act will not mean that we lose any of the rights we cherishโ. [โฆ]
Comment
The statement by the Conservative leader is clear and unequivocal. Even allowing that it is a speech a long way from an election and designed to encourage a party currently scoring badly in the polls, it is part of a worrying trend with more and more voices calling for us to leave the ECHR.
The big claim towards the end of her speech quoted above that โHuman Rights in the United Kingdom did not start in 1998 with the Human Rights Act, and will not end with itโ.โ Many did start, and some will end if it is repealed. If there will be no difference, then why the desire to end it? She seems to have forgotten that the HRA was introduced because people had to go to Strasbourg to get the justice denied them in the British courts. It is nonsense to claim that the HRA has added nothing of benefit to the rights of the ordinary person.
There are likely to be many who will disagree with Lord Wolfsonโs benign conclusion that the proposed departure from the ECHR would be fully compliant with the Belfast Agreement.
Leaving the ECHR will be a retrograde step and have repercussions for our international relations. It is likely to make trade between us and Europe more difficult. We will join Russia and Belarus as the only nations outside its remit. Repealing the HRA โ which has been promised several times before by Conservative leaders but never carried out โ will seriously damage our rights as citizens. Combined with recent legislation to limit protests for example, it will be a retrograde step.
An Amnesty petition can be accessed here.
Speech accessed from the Conservative website [8 October]
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