The new equalities chief, Mary-Anne Stevenson, has asserted that the European Court of Human Rights protects rights that everyone needs. As examples, she gave the John Worboys black cab rapist case, where the Supreme Court was able to hold the Metropolitan Police to account for a poor investigation via article 3 of the ECHR, the duty to conduct “effective investigation into cases which involve serious violence to persons”.

ECHR rules have also been used to prevent the forcible separation of an elderly couple into different care homes.

Reform and the Conservatives have both said that they want the UK to leave the ECHR, and the Labour government is seeking to water down some of its statutes.

Misleading coverage of ECHR rules was being used to demonise migrants, Ms Stevenson said. One example were reports which claimed that deportation of one migrant had been overturned via the ECHR, because his child did not like foreign food. In fact, this was not taken into account, and anyway the initial decision was overturned.

“I think it’s really important that we have honesty in the way that we talk about human rights, and that we also have a recognition that the demonisation of migrants, the creating this idea that migration causes huge risks for the country can make the lives not just of migrants to the UK, but of ethnic minority UK citizens, very, very difficult,” she said.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/echr-mary-ann-stephenson-nf8k8v0sb