RUSSELL Findlay’s claim that Holyrood should not be consulted if the UK leaves the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been branded “desperate”.
The Scottish Tory leader, speaking ahead of his speech to the party’s conference in Manchester on Sunday, told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show that it was “right” that immigration was a reserved issue.
On Saturday, UK Tory leader Kemi Badenoch announced that the party would take the UK out of the ECHR if it wins the next general election.
A month ago, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that his party would do the same, leading to accusations that the Tories were copying the far-right party’s plans.
Badenoch’s announcement came off the back of a review by shadow attorney general, Lord Wolfson, which concluded the ECHR had limited the Government’s ability to address immigration issues, as well as policies in a host of other areas.
He said that withdrawal from the ECHR was “the only feasible option” to gain full control of UK borders, and that he did not believe the Good Friday Agreement, the UK-EU trade agreement, and the Windsor Framework negotiated to ease post-Brexit trading arrangements, were barriers to leaving the convention.
Findlay, who said he agreed with plans to leave the ECHR, despite previously opposing them, was asked by the BBC if the Scottish Parliament should be consulted on leaving the convention.
“Well, the legal report, Lord Wolfson's work clearly makes the case that there is no impediment on the devolved nations or a host of other areas,” he said.
“This is a rightly reserved matter. Immigration is a reserved matter.
“One of the fundamental things every country needs to do is secure its own borders, and right now our country is not able to do so.”
Asked if that meant he didn’t see any “complexities” in unpicking the ECHR from the devolution settlement, Findlay said: “There will be a lot of work to be done generally once this goes through, but it is a credible and detailed plan.
“This is not just some back of a fag packet thing that we see from other parties.”
He also denied that the Tories were copying Reform.
“Well, what Reform UK have done is just announced it without any sense of how it can be achieved,” he said. “They've not done the hard work that Kemi has done and our party has done, which is to set out exactly how it works.”
When it was put to Findlay that he hadn’t explained the complexities around the Scottish Parliament or the Good Friday Agreement, he said: “Lord Wolfson's report deals with that in great detail.”
Speaking after Findlay’s interview, Finance Secretary Shona Robison gave a scathing assessment of the Tory plans to leave the ECHR.
“Russell Findlay is a desperate leader, leading a desperate party that is trying to be more and more desperate in the messages they're putting out to try and get any attention,” she told the BBC.
“And of course, what they're trying to do is to out-Reform Reform.
“They can't do that. They’re on territory which is just a downward slide for them, with the public increasingly turning their backs on their rhetoric.
“The ECHR issue, as you pointed out, has major implications for the Scottish Parliament, where much of our legislation of course incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights.
“This is just desperate stuff, and it will continue. It will mean that the Scottish Conservatives continue to slide in the polls.”
When the BBC journalist pointed to Findlay’s claims that detailed work had been done and that the complexities for Holyrood had been considered, Robison said: “Well, I doubt that very much, given the other issues, policies that they've provided have essentially been done on the back of a bag packet, to be honest.”
We told how, when Farage announced his plans to scrap the ECHR in August, a human rights expert said it could “accelerate the end of the Union” due to implications for the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark peace treaty that brought an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland.
In 2024, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee published evidence on the potential impact of leaving the ECHR, telling MPs that it would trigger a review procedure built into the Good Friday Agreement.
