THE meddling European Court is beyond redemption and so Britain MUST leave, a future Tory leadership hopeful has declared.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick today urged Rishi Sunak to make an election pledge to leave Strasbourg’s jurisdiction to stand any hope of closing the gap on Labour.
He told The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots: “It was born of noble intentions after the defeat of fascism by people like Winston Churchill.
“But Winston Churchill would be aghast with what has happened to it today where it has been contorted by activist judges.”
You can watch the show in full on thesun.co.uk and The Sun's YouTube channel.
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It is the first time Mr Jenrick - a standard-bearer for the Tory right - has explicitly called for the European Court of Human Rights to be on the ballot.
In a fiery intervention, he told Never Mind the Ballots:
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- TORY rebels must let Rishi Sunak fight the next election but he did not rule out a tilt at the Tory leadership one day
- THAT he wished he had voted for Brexit - but those that did have been betrayed
He joins a growing number of Conservative MPs demanding Britain ends its 71-year membership of the Court over fears it is thwarting efforts to stop small boats.
Mr Sunak has vowed to leave if necessary to tackle illegal migration, but has stopped short of an immediate commitment to cut ties.
And Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron only yesterday stressed the need for reform to curb “overreach” by judges.
But dismissing such attempts as doomed, Mr Jenrick said: “I dont think it's possible to reform the ECHR. I think that would be doomed to fail.
“Like David Cameron's attempt to renegotiate our relationship with the EU. The question we've got to ask ourselves is does staying in ECHR make us safer?
“Does it make the country more prosperous? Does it increase our influence in the world?
“And I think the answer to all those questions is no. This is a treaty or convention that has been bent out of shape out of all recognition to the original proponent.
“Winston Churchill would be aghast at what's happened to it. It is viewed by its activist judges as a living instrument and you see your issues whether its security, borders or now Net Zero. Judges acting as politicians.
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“This is bad for democracy. It's not in the interest of the British public, and I think it's time for us to leave.”
Anger towards the ECHR flared further last week when its judges ruled against Switzerland for not doing enough to stop climate change.
British Ministers including Lord Cameron condemned the move to weigh in on domestic politics.
Mr Jenrick resigned from the Cabinet last year after Mr Sunak rejected his proposals to toughen up the Rwanda Bill.
He had wanted to automatically throw out all ECHR injunctions preventing flights taking off, after an anonymous Strasbourg judge blocked the initial plane to Kigali in 2022.
He added: "Not everyone has seen the things that I've seen as a minister but if you had seen them, if you've seen terrorists, who security services are struggling to monitor and survey as a result of the ECHR...
"If you've seen dangerous criminals, foreign national offenders we can't remove from this country because of the ECHR...
"And if you've seen a policy like Rwanda, delayed and frustrated because of activist judges in Strasburg, then I think you do inexorably come to the same conclusion."
The PM’s Rwanda Bill is finally set to pass through Parliament today if peers cave and pave the way for King Charles to sign it into law this week.
Downing Street remains confident that the first illegal migrants will be deported to the east African nation by the end of spring.
