The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty enforced by a court in Strasbourg. Britain was the first state to ratify it, in 1951. The convention is distinct from the European Union: EU membership in effect commits countries to the ECHR, but since Britain is no longer in the EU, leaving the convention is legally simpler.
Labour introduced the Human Rights Act when previously in power, incorporating the ECHR into domestic law. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, is a former human-rights barrister who wrote a 900-page textbook on the subject.
The convention constrains Britain in three ways. First, through decisions by the Strasbourg court—which has overruled Britain in an extradition or deportation case just 13 times since 1980. Second, through British courts enforcing the convention day-to-day; in 2015-16 and 2024-25 there were over 360,000 appeals against the Home Office in the lower immigration court, 115,000 of them about human rights, and claimants won more than half the latter group. Third, through self-censorship: civil servants will not try to expel someone they think will win a legal challenge, meaning the convention's influence ripples into thousands of decisions every week.
The most controversial domestic judgments involve foreign criminals who invoke Article 8 (right to family life) to resist deportation. In one case, a 32-year-old Nigerian man who had lunged at a woman with a knife in front of her child was allowed to remain because removal would separate him from his British children.
Reform UK says it would pull Britain out of the ECHR on its first day in office. The Conservatives also now back withdrawal. Labour plans to legislate to tighten how British officials and judges apply the rules, particularly regarding Article 8 family-life claims. Similar changes by the Conservative-led coalition in 2014, focused on deporting more criminals, were judged to have worked well.
Britain is one of several members—including Austria, Denmark and Italy—pressing for reform. A summit in Moldova in May 2026 offers a chance to change how the convention works in practice. Member states hope to carve out more freedom to interpret Article 3 (protection from torture and degrading treatment) and Article 8 as they see fit. The Strasbourg court's president, Mattias Guyomar, has said the court would be mindful of broader "context" but stressed its "full independence".
The ECHR is not the only instrument limiting Britain's room for manoeuvre. Britain is also signed up to the UN Convention against Torture and the UN Refugee Convention. Reform UK wants to leave those treaties as well.
Membership of the ECHR is written into the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland, as well as Britain's exit treaty with the European Union.
Among Britons with an opinion, almost half say they want to stay in the ECHR, compared with less than a third who would leave, according to YouGov. Four-fifths of Labour voters support the convention.
The ECHR helped block corporal punishment in British schools and permitted gay people to serve in the armed forces.
If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the remaining 3%?