THE Tories have been left fuming after the new chair of Britain's equalities watchdog issued a warning against the "demonisation of migrants".
Mary Ann-Stephenson, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), made the comments after saying it would be "a mistake" for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
Political debate has ramped up this year around the UK’s membership of the ECHR in relation to immigration cases in the UK, with both the Conservatives and Reform UK saying they would quit it if they came into power.
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The Labour Government has said it will not leave the European treaty, but ministers are reviewing human rights law to make it easier to deport people who have no right to be in the UK.
Changes to Article 3 – prohibition on torture or inhuman or degrading treatment – and Article 8 – the right to family life – are included in the UK Government’s plans to overhaul the asylum system.
Both articles have been used to prevent people with no right to be in the UK being sent back to their home countries.
Stephenson described the convention as “really important” and said leaving would weaken the rights everyone depends on.
The EHRC, of which she became chair at the beginning of December, monitors rights and freedoms across England, Scotland and Wales.
In an interview with the Press Association, Stephenson said of the convention: “It’s embedded in UK law through the Human Rights Act, and it provides rights that protect all of us.”
She gave examples such as the John Worboys black cab rapist case which saw the Supreme Court rule that police can be held liable for serious failures in their investigations, and another involving the threatened separation of an elderly couple when one needed to go into residential care.
She said these showed how necessary the Human Rights Act was in incorporating the convention rights into UK law.
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Stephenson said: “These are all sorts of cases where most people would think that’s the sort of thing we would want to see. Those are the sorts of rights we would want to have.
“And so I think leaving the European Convention is a mistake. It weakens the rights that all of us depend on.”
She also noted a “real risk of people using, quite often, cases where human rights arguments were made in court but were not successful”.
Stephenson noted research from the University of Oxford earlier this year which highlighted “several high-profile examples of misleading coverage, including the so-called ‘chicken nuggets’ case – widely reported as the prevention of an individual’s deportation on the basis of his child’s dislike of foreign food, despite the decision not being based on this detail and having already been overturned”.
She said: “I think it’s really important that we have honesty in the way that we talk about human rights, and that we also have a recognition that the demonisation of migrants, the creating this idea that migration causes huge risks for the country can make the lives not just of migrants to the UK, but of ethnic minority UK citizens, very, very difficult.”
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The Tories slammed the comments, saying Stephenson had was dismissing "legitimate concerns" around migration.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philip described Stephenson's remarks as a "disgrace" and claimed "the left" was trying to paint "those opposed to mass immigration and illegal immigration as racist".
He said: “This nonsense has to end. It is completely wrong that Labour’s new human rights chief dismisses legitimate concerns about mass migration and crimes committed by foreign nationals – including the recent spate of rapes and sex attacks committed by small boat illegal immigrants."
Meanwhile, Downing Street said there is a “balance to be struck” on migration following Stephenson's comments.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the UK Government wants to “help those in genuine need, whilst keeping out people who pose a risk to public safety”.
He said: “We have a long and proud history of welcoming migrants, but equally we must restore control and order a system that we’ve inherited that is clearly broken.
“And that is why you’ve seen some of the most sweeping reforms in a generation from this Home Secretary.”
Pressed on whether he thought the migration strategy demonised migrants, he said there is “a balance to be struck”.
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