Attorney General says UK exit from ECHR would breach Belfast Agreement - branding legal advice 'just wrong'

Lord Hermer – giving evidence to the Lords Constitution Committee – claimed that recent legal analysis that the UK could withdraw from the convention without unpicking the 1998 deal is “just wrong”.

The ECHR is referenced in the peace accord, but recent papers – including by the Policy Exchange think tank – said that it is possible for the UK to leave, provided domestic human rights legislation applies in Northern Ireland.

Withdrawal has been proposed by Reform UK as part of its plans to deal with the illegal migration crisis, should it form the next government.

However, Nigel Farage said it would take longer to do that in Northern Ireland, and proposed renegotiation the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement.

During the Lords committee, Lord Hermer said nothing effective and sensible will be “off the table” to deal with small boat crossings and a largely “broken” immigration system.

But he rejected analysis claiming that the Belfast Agreement could remain as it is if the UK left the European Convention on Human Rights. He told the Lords Constitution Committee: “I saw that analysis. “It’s just wrong. As you know, the European Convention is expressly baked in to that agreement. “We would be in breach of it if we left the Convention. That’s the plain legal view. “I’m sure it would be the view not only held by Ireland, but also by the EU. “It would do enormous damage to the interests of this country. “It would be deeply worrying for Northern Ireland. “But it would be a clear breach of the obligations that we’ve held.” He said that in order to get around the obligation to send people back overseas who face the risk of death or torture, the UK would also have to leave other international agreements including the Refugee Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child – claiming the UK would become, together with Russia and Belarus, “in splendid isolation on this planet”.