Labour has been accused of “political posturing” by a Human Rights Lawyer after the Government’s latest pledge to crackdown on legal loopholes being used by migrants to stay in Britain.
The Government is reportedly weighing up whether to crack down on illegal migrants exploiting human rights laws to avoid deportation.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a review into how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to family life, is being applied in immigration courts, with concern it is being misused to block removals.
The review will assess how other European countries like Denmark, which has one of the most left wing governments in Europe, take a tougher approach to legislation.
David Haigh has criticised Labour’s ‘political posturing’ over their latest crackdown on legal loopholes for migrants
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Speaking to GB News, Haigh criticised the effectiveness of the review, claiming Cooper’s decision is another case of “political posturing” from Labour on tackling Britain’s migration crisis.
Haigh explained: “I think it’s clear it’s political posturing. There’s an awful lot of news at the moment about absurd cases – we can go over each one of them, like the chicken nugget case, and even saying that is absurd.
“There’s a lot of absurd cases where the Human Rights Act is being abused by multiple people. So I think it’s obviously political posturing.”
However, Haigh did welcome the push for a review into how the legislation is being abused, noting that there is a “significant problem” in the legal system which is allowing individuals to abuse it in order to stay.
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Yvette Cooper insists the Labour Government are taking the issue of immigration seriously GB NEWSHaigh told GB News: “I think it’s welcome news, because there is a significant problem, not just in the UK but across Europe when it comes to the application of certain of human rights which have been abused, and we need to address that.
“So I think it’s a positive step.”
When asked by host Dawn Neesom if it is a case of the judges making “mistakes” in their rulings or judges being too “liberal and lenient” with immigration cases, Haigh admitted that it is because of “both” factors that the issues is becoming more significant.
Haigh stated: “The majority of decisions that we’re seeing are our UK judges, English judges, interpreting the law and applying it here. And obviously some of them are making quite a lot of mistakes because you see a lot of cases where it’s going backwards and forwards between the appeal courts and the various different immigration tribunals.
“So judges here are making mistakes and other judges are sending it back to them to reconsider, and this is something that’s gone on for more than a couple of decades.”
Haigh told GB News that leaving the ECHR ‘won’t make a difference’
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Haigh added: “I think you’ve clearly got judges that are left wing or liberal here, and I think you’ve also clearly got judges making mistakes, so you’ve got both of them.
“The judiciary is an area that we do need to look at as well going forward, but absolutely, I think both mistakes and judges letting their personal opinions coming into things is happening.”
When pressed on whether the UK leaving the ECHR will make a difference, Haigh concluded: “I would argue that it wouldn’t. The reality at the moment is that we have a Labour Government for the foreseeable future, and they’ve made it clear they’re not leaving the EU.
“There are talks about potentially reforming it with others because obviously it’s not just us that’s having the problem in the UK, it’s all the other European countries that are suffering this.”