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05 Oct 2025
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05 Oct 2025
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The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is “no longer fit for purpose”, the Scottish Conversative leader said.
Speaking on the Sunday Show on BBC Radio Scotland, Tory leader Russell Findlay backed Kemi Badenoch’s call to leave the ECHR in order to curb illegal immigration.
He said: “I think people have been able to see year after year that the EHRC is no longer fit for purpose and it has blocked governments from being able to deal with the issue of illegal migration.
My message is clear: if you’re here illegally, you will be detained and deported.
Our new Removals Force, modelled on US ICE, will deport 150,000 illegal migrants each year. pic.twitter.com/mjQwuSe77w
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) October 5, 2025
“When Labour came to power they said they would … stop the boats, and in fact since then 50,000 people have crossed the channel and come here illegally.
“We now need to find a mechanism to remove people who should not be here and foreign criminals right now.”
Last year as a newly appointed Scottish Tory leader, Mr Findlay had said he wanted to stay in the ECHR but had said that “nothing is off the table”.
He said: “What I said was, this needs to be looked at and what Kemi Badenoch has done and what she explained to Laura Kuenssberg a short while ago wasn’t just some knee-jerk response as seen from other parties.
“What she’s done is commissioned Lord Wolfson to look at ECHR and he has found that it has acted as an impediment on governments being able to act as they see fit and that’s why this report which runs down 200 pages is credible, it’s serious.
“There will be a lot of work to be done generally once this goes through but it is a credible detailed plan.”
The Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch announced on Saturday that the party will take the UK out of the ECHR if they win the next election.
The announcement comes after a review by the Conservative party’s lead lawyer.
Tory peer and former justice minister Lord Wolfson of Tredegar found that staying in the ECHR blocks migration reform and leads to the persecution of military veterans.
Last year, Ms Badenoch said leaving the treaty would not be a “silver bullet” for tackling immigration.
On Friday she said the move was necessary to “protect our borders, our veterans, and our citizens”.
The UK Home Office has been approached for comment.
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