Key events
Jenrick suggests Tories would take UK out of ECHR if that offered only means of stopping small boats
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, has suggested that the government might withdraw from the European convention on human rights if that offers the only means of stopping asylum seekers coming to the UK on small boats.
Asked if leaving the ECHR was an option for the government, Jenrick said the government would “take whatever necessary action is needed”.
Jenrick was responding to a question prompted by a BBC report saying senior Conservatives believe the party will campaign on a manifesto proposing ECHR withdrawal. The report, by Nick Eardley, also quotes an unnamed minister claiming the UK is being “punished” by the European court of human rights, which enforces the convention, because of Brexit.
Rishi Sunak has played down the prospect of leaving the ECHR, arguing that the UK is instead in a good position to secure reforms to how the European court operates that might help it implement its Rwanda policy.
But Sunak has never ruled out leaving the convention, or the court, and one recent survey showed that 70% of Conservative party members want the UK to leave the convention. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has in the past said she agrees with this view, although she is now she tends not to say that publicly because it is not government policy.
In an interview with Times Radio, asked if the government was ruling out withdrawal from the convention, Jenrick replied:
You can see from the prime minister, the home secretary and myself, our total commitment to this challenge.
That’s why we’re working on every possible front. That’s why we have produced the most comprehensive plan, I believe, of any European country to tackle this issue.
And we’ll do whatever is necessary ultimately to defend our borders and to bring order to our asylum system.
Asked if “whatever is necessary” might include leaving the ECHR, Jenrick replied:
We will do whatever is required, take whatever necessary action is needed.
Labour says it would set up commission to tackle 60% fall in proportion of crimes solved since 2015
Good morning. In August, as “normal” political news dries up, journalists are more dependent than usual on what the political parties are offering and the government is still banging away with announcements designed to show that it is dealing with the small boats problem. Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, has been promoting a deal with Turkey intended to tackle illegal migration. The Home Office statement is here, and our story about the initiative is here.
But today Labour has got its own, rival announcement. It is about crime, and how to ensure more crimes lead to suspects being charged, and it is inspired in particular by this chart in the document Keir Starmer published earlier this year explaining his “making Britain’s streets safe” mission. It shows the detection rate for offences in England and Wales has fallen by 60% since 2015.
Labour says that, in addition to proposals it has already announced to deal with this (more neighbourhood police officers, more people working as crown prosecutors), it will set up a charging commission to ensure more cases go to trial. It says a body is needed to speed up the process because the time taken to charge suspects is getting longer (up from 14 days, on average, in 2016, to 44 days now), and because 2.4m cases were dropped due to evidential difficulties in the past year.
Another problem is the huge increase in the proportion of victims who just give up on wanting to see a case through.
In an article for the Daily Mirror, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, says a charging commission is needed because, for every 500 people who get burgled, only 20 cases go to court. She says:
Across England and Wales today, over 500 people will have their home broken into. Only 20 of those burglars will face court. Shockingly, less than 5% of burglaries are solved.
For violent crime the figures are worse. More than 5,000 people will face a violent attack or abuse today alone. But less than 300 of the criminals responsible will face court.
Under the Tories the proportion of crimes that are solved has dropped by two thirds. Bluntly, more criminals are getting off, more victims are being badly let down.
The Labour commission will be chaired by Dame Vera Baird, a former Labour MP and former victims’ commissioner. Explaining what it would do, she said:
Investigations and prosecutions for serious crimes like rape are in a dismal state, the criminal justice system is in chaos, and things simply cannot stay as they are.
This commission will bring together voices from across policing and prosecutions to forensically investigate the causes of this charging crisis, and set out robust recommendations for recovery.
Jenrick and Cooper have both been doing media rounds this morning. I will post the highlights shortly.
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