Tories should renounce Windsor Framework to have credible policy on ECHR - DUP MP
For the Tory party to have a consistent policy on withdrawal from the ECHR they would have to renounce the Windsor Framework deal they signed with the EU, a DUP MP has said.
Conservative shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Alex Burghart has welcomed a report from the think tank Policy Exchange, saying its legal analysis “strongly suggests that the UK could leave the ECHR without breaching” the Belfast Agreement.
However, the ability of the UK government to legislate for Northern Ireland on immigration – in a way which isn’t consistent with European equality law – has already been struck down by the courts because of commitments the Tory government made in its Windsor Framework deal with the EU.
For example, the Belfast High Court ruled in 2024 that the Tories’ Rwanda deportation plan was inconsistent with EU rights applicable in Northern Ireland under Article 2 of the deal.
A case comes before the Supreme Court next month, in which judges will have to rule whether the provisions in the Protocol deal override domestic UK law in certain areas, after a government appeal on the Belfast court ruling.
It is unclear what withdrawal from the ECHR would mean in practice for Northern Ireland, given the existing influence of European rights under the NI Protocol.
The paper from Policy Exchange said that nothing in the Belfast Agreement would prevent the UK from leaving the ECHR – and argued assurances could be given such as maintaining the Human Rights Act in relation to the political institutions of Northern Ireland.
It says that while UK withdrawal from the ECHR would not breach the Windsor Framework, it notes that at present the substance of the rights in existence before EU withdrawal and underpinned by EU law must be retained in Northern Ireland. These rights cover issues such as EU anti-discrimination rules.
Earlier this year, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told the News Letter that her party isn’t going to “unpick” the Windsor Framework – and that that any move to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) would need a “proper plan” for the entire United Kingdom.
Ms Badenoch has suggested that the UK would have to leave the convention if it stops the country from doing “what is right”, however her party is yet to come to a decision on whether it would support UK withdrawal in future.
DUP MP Sammy Wilson says that for the Conservative Party’s policy on the ECHR to be consistent, it would have to support scrapping the Protocol.
“They’re now complaining about the Protocol and its impact. It’s a nonsense. This party has got no shame at all when it comes to renouncing the very things that they were not only supporting, but introducing, when they were in power”, Mr Wilson said.
He cited policies on climate change, asylum hotels and tax rises which took place under Conservative governments.
“Now they’re renouncing all of that, and saying taxes are too high, that net zero is nonsense and that councils should be demanding planning changes if people want asylum hotels”, he said.
The East Antrim MP added: “The Windsor Framework was their baby. But there are lots of other things that are their babies. I’m really pleased to see that Kemi Badenoch is now saying ‘drill away in the North Sea’. Don’t forget they introduced the green transition”.
The last Conservative government said it would challenge High Court rulings on the ability of the government to legislate in Northern Ireland on issues which the courts ruled it could not because of Article 2 of the Windsor Framework.
The News Letter asked the NI Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) for their view on what a UK withdrawal from the ECHR would mean for Northern Ireland - and would it be limited here by the commitments in Article 2 of the Windsor Framework.
A spokesperson said any UK withdrawal from the ECHR would impact the Belfast Agreement, the Windsor Framework and the Trade and Co-operation agreement between the UK and EU.
On the latter, NIHRC said “Article 524 further includes a commitment by the Parties' and Member States' to a “long-standing respect for democracy, the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, including as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the European Convention on Human Rights, and on the importance of giving effect to the rights and freedoms in that Convention domestically.”
They also said that “the recitals to Windsor Framework include an affirmation that the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement” – including its “subsequent implementation agreements and arrangements, should be protected in all its parts.”