Three former Independent Reviewers of Terrorism legislation support JUSTICE’s latest paper setting out why it is in Britain's national interest to stay in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe.

Today JUSTICE launches a paper explaining that the UK should remain a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and a full member of the Council of Europe, on national-interest grounds.  Leaving the ECHR would make the UK less safe and less influential, it argues.

The three former Independent Reviewers of Terrorism Legislation, Lord Carlile, Lord Anderson, and Sir Max Hill, back the paper’s arguments in its foreword, saying that ECHR membership is central to UK security cooperation and "soft power."

The UK's international influence and reputation as a rule-of-law nation depends on ECHR membership, the paper argues. Withdrawal would weaken the UK’s diplomatic power, limit the UK’s ability to cooperate on cross-border issues and jeopardise criminal justice cooperation with the EU.  

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The importance of having a seat on the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is a crucial international forum, where the UK plays a leading role. The Council of Europe plays a critical role in promoting human rights and democracy across Europe and beyond, particularly through the ECHR. It also develops international solutions to cross-border issues.

It is unlikely the UK can remain in the Council of Europe if it withdraws from the ECHR, JUSTICE points out, given the ECHR’s central importance to the Council of Europe’s work.

Giving up the UK’s significant soft power in the Council of Europe would mean losing influence over work on topics like AI governance, election monitoring, safety at sporting events, anti-torture inspections, and the European response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

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Risks to the UK’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU

The largest and most significant agreement jeopardised by ECHR withdrawal is the UK’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the TCA) with the European Union (EU), agreed in 2020. It covers the UK’s relationship with the EU on issues such as trade of goods, access to services, and law enforcement cooperation.

The TCA secures the UK its own dedicated multi-agency teams at Europol and Eurojust to tackle cross-border crime, enables the UK to take part in joint Europol criminal investigations, and gives the UK access to important DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data from the EU.

ECHR commitments are wired directly into the law enforcement and justice cooperation in the TCA, meaning such cooperation is likely to end if the UK withdraws from the ECHR. This would have serious, damaging consequences for the UK’s national security.

The ECHR also plays an important role in the UK’s agreement with the EU in relation to Gibraltar, migration returns deals, and prisoner-transfer treaties.

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Comments from Lord Carlile, Lord Anderson & Sir Max Hill, foreword authors of the paper:

Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE KC:

“Being a signatory to the ECHR makes the UK a safer, stronger, and more influential nation. It supports the cross-border cooperation needed to combat serious crime and gives the UK a powerful voice in shaping European solutions to shared problems.”

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Lord Anderson of Ipswich KBE KC:

‍“The ECHR’s minimum human rights standards underpin every aspect of the police, criminal justice and data cooperation with our neighbours that the effective exercise of our sovereignty requires. This paper makes a powerful and very practical case for staying in.”

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Sir Max Hill KCB KC:

“It is a myth that leaving the ECHR and CoE would somehow save and strengthen our sovereignty and justice systems. The opposite is true, as this paper explains with clarity and in detail.”

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Read the full paper & other papers in this series

• Click here to read and download the full paper, Soft Power and Hard Law: why the ECHR is in the UK’s National Interest.
• This paper is the second in a JUSTICE series on the ECHR. Click here to read the first paper, From Hillsborough to Rochdale: How the ECHR has helped victims.