Home Secretary Theresa May has vowed to reform the country’s immigration tribunals and appeals system to make it easier to deport people.
Outlining proposals to be spelled out in the Conservative Party manifesto for the 2015 general election, Mrs May also launched an attack on the Human Rights Act for facilitating delays and blocking the removal of illegal immigrants and foreign criminals; adding that those fighting deportation would no longer qualify for government funding of their legal representation.
The Home Secretary told the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester that the 17 ways to appeal deportation currently would be slashed to four in order to “streamline” the system. In the longer term, she said, the government intended to repeal human rights legislation to prevent those facing deportation from claiming the right to stay in the UK under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
The moves are part of Mrs May’s plans to cut the number of deportation appeals by half by reducing the number of challenges allowed and ending what she sees as abuse of ECHR Article 8 – the right to respect for private and family life. She said the Conservatives’ position on the ECHR was clear and the Party will leave the Convention if that is what it takes to fix Britain’s human rights laws.
The speech was short on detail though Mrs May said that a draft immigration bill containing all the details of her proposals would be released within the next few weeks.
Mrs May attracted enthusiastic applause when she reminded her audience of the deportation of ‘hate preacher’ Abu Qatada. Abu Qatada fought deportation for over ten years before finally being removed from the UK in July this year. Mrs May said that it was ‘ridiculous’ that it had taken so long.
Promising that the Conservative manifesto for the 2015 national poll would contain a commitment to repeal the 1988 Human Rights Act, Mrs May said that many people in the country avoided deportation by relying on the Act, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. She said that this had had the effect of ensuring that the law was “now on the side of the criminals rather than the public”. She said that many foreign criminals rely on Article 8 and that this provision had become “a free-for-all” because UK judges had interpreted the law wrongly. She said: “Parliament wants the law on the people’s side. Conservatives in government will put the law on the people’s side once and for all.”
The Home Secretary also told delegates that she plans to introduce tough new laws to boot out foreign criminals and illegal immigrants before their appeals are heard. She said a new Immigration Bill would allow immediate deportation if there was no risk to the deportee of serious or irreversible harm. Appeals would then be heard while the person is outside the UK.
Critics warn that pulling out of the ECHR could cause the system to collapse, meaning countries with poor human rights records would be under less pressure to improve.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper warned: “Blaming the Human Rights Act when the principal reason for not deporting foreign criminals is Home Office incompetence is just a cover for failure.”
