It would be a “profound mistake” to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister ruled out leaving the treaty but said the Government would look at the interpretation of some provisions of the convention.
Ministers plan to tighten the use of Article 8 of the ECHR, the right to private and family life, in immigration cases in the UK.
Sir Keir was responding on Wednesday to a question from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who said: “The leader of the Conservative Party and the leader of Reform want to join Russia and Vladimir Putin by withdrawing from the convention.
“Will the Prime Minister categorically rule out withdrawing from the ECHR, or suspending it, or watering down our rights in any way?”
Sir Keir said: “We will not withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. We do need to make sure that both the convention and other instruments are fit for the circumstances we face at the moment.”
He told the Commons: “It would be a profound mistake to pull out of these instruments, because the first thing that would follow is every other country in the world that adheres to these instruments would pull out of all their agreements with this country.
“That would be catastrophic for dealing with the problem that we are dealing with.”
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said withdrawing from the convention would put Britain in a “club” with two other countries: Russia and Belarus.
She told the Lords Constitution Committee: “The position of our Government is the direct opposite of that.”
The Lord Chancellor said ministers are “believers in what the convention is trying to achieve” and “if people who support this instrument and want it to work can’t have this debate in a sensible way, then I mean, honestly, there’s no hope really at all, for anybody.”
Ms Mahmood said the Government was “not wanting to play, as you might say, populist politics with it”.
But she told peers that the view of European colleagues is that the UK is “more at the maximalist end of the spectrum” when interpreting how to uphold its international obligations.
“I think it’s perfectly fine for us to question whether we have drawn the line in the right place,” she added.
“The work that the Home Secretary is doing has… fresh guidance, secondary legislation or primary legislation all on the table as potential options.”
Ms Mahmood said proposals over Article 8 will be brought forward in the autumn and “may expand” beyond that.
Under plans unveiled in the immigration White Paper in May, the Home Office seeks to reduce the number of people claiming “exceptional circumstances” under Article 8 to stay in the UK.
