‘Get the boats done’ – could there be a referendum on the ECHR?

It’s ‘stop the boats’ week in 10 Downing Street as part of government plans to avoid a news vacuum over the summer recess. There have been a range of announcements – from new measures against businesses that knowingly employ illegal migrants, along with plans to crackdown on ‘lefty lawyers’. However, Rishi Sunak’s problem can be summed up by his deputy chairman Lee Anderson – who declared on Tuesday that the government has ‘failed’ to stop migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. While this is not the official line from the government, it does reflect concerns that Sunak’s pledge to ‘stop the boats’ could end in failure.

It’s why talk of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is once again dominating the news. The Telegraph reports that Sunak will face calls from up to a third of his cabinet to put leaving the European Convention on Human Rights in the election manifesto if migrant deportation flights to Rwanda are blocked by the courts.