Liberty responds to government’s planned asylum and returns policy

In response to the Home Secretary’s statement on the government’s planned asylum and returns policy released today, Sam Grant, Director of External Relations at Liberty, said: 

“In its attempt to look tough on immigration, the Government risks taking us down a road of no return by jeopardising the legal framework that protects us all. Undermining the European Convention on Human Rights or leaving as some propose, means dismantling a safety net that protects every one of us.

“For over 70 years, these laws have quietly underpinned our daily lives: giving us the ability to speak freely, love who we want and ensuring we can hold those in power to account.

“The government are defending reforms to the ECHR in the name of public interest, yet they are not being honest about what people stand to lose if they lay the groundwork for further diminishing our human rights. The ECHR is a vital foundation of our freedoms, and it is essential that any changes do not open the door to the slow erosion of our rights, now or in the future.”