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Former High Court judge Lord Sumption has said the Government’s plans to change the way human rights legislation is applied in immigration cases will be “limited” by the European Court of Human Rights.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Although it may not have a huge impact, it will certainly have an impact.
“The aim, as I understand it, is to guide UK judges on how to interpret the European Convention.
“Now, if we pass a law in the UK that tells judges to interpret the Convention in a certain way, and the Strasbourg court says that it should be interpreted in a different way, then if the Strasbourg court finds us in breach of the Convention, then we have a direct conflict between our international obligations under the Convention and our domestic legislation.
“This does not mean that the idea is unworkable, or even impractical at all. What it means is that if the Government wants to stay in the Convention system – and it does – then it will have very limited freedom of action and will have to draft its legislation in a way that will be acceptable to the Strasbourg court.”
“This is quite difficult to do because the Strasbourg court is an unpredictable court that tends to form legal principles on its own.”
He added: “All I’m saying is that trying to find out what the Strasbourg court will accept and what it won’t accept is actually a difficult and delicate task.”
