Tony Vaughan KC MP: “The Migration Deal with France Shows the UK Needs the ECHR

In a recent article in Politics Home, RAMP Principal Tony Vaughan KC MP discusses the UK’s new ‘one-in, one-out’ migration deal with France, suggesting it underscores the importance of staying within the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), since agreements of this kind depend on shared legal and values-based frameworks.

The new agreement allows the UK to detain people arriving by small boats and return them to France. In return, the UK will accept an equal number of migrants through a legal route, provided they have not attempted irregular entry and pass all required checks.

Vaughan argues that the deal could only be reached because both countries operate within shared legal commitments, including the ECHR and stresses that effective international cooperation on migration and security depends on upholding existing human rights commitments rather than withdrawing from them. He suggests that leaving the ECHR would undermine the UK’s ability to secure future agreements while isolating it from its European neighbours. 

Read the full article here