European human rights laws must be “fit for the times that we live in today”, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said amid frustration about difficulties deporting migrants.
The Government is working with allies on potential reforms to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and is also examining how it is applied in domestic courts.
A handful of returns to France have taken place under the deal signed with Emmanuel Macron’s government but 32,188 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far in 2025, a record for this point in a year.
The ECHR has been highly criticised by politicians on all sides seeking to make it easier to remove people with no permission to be in the UK, particularly Article 8 provisions on the right to family life.
Mr Lammy, who is also the Justice Secretary, said the law as it was currently being interpreted was being abused.
He told Times Radio: “It is important that those who come illegally are returned to their countries of origin, and that’s why we stepped up returns and I played a big role in that as foreign secretary, up to 35,000 last year, up 14% of what we inherited from the Conservatives.
“The ‘one in, one out’ deal with France is an important step.
“It goes alongside the many other things that we are doing in this area, and we want deals with other countries.
“That’s why we signed a returns deal with Iraq as well.
“It’s deeply frustrating to see the numbers that are coming, but that’s why it’s important to work with European partners, and I spoke to the Danish justice secretary just a few days ago, talking about the European Convention on Human Rights, talking about Article 8, and seeing what we can do together with European allies.
“Not pulling out of the European convention, that would run a coach and horses through the Good Friday Agreement, through our terrorism legislation, we can’t do that.
“But I do believe that we do need to interpret Article 8 for the times that we live in today.
“And there are areas that we can work on where we feel jointly that people are abusing it and the gangs are abusing it, particularly.”
