Justice Secretary urges updates to European Convention on Human Rights amid growing concerns over its application in high-profile legal cases
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced that the United Kingdom will push for reform of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), both domestically and in collaboration with member states, warning that “public confidence in the rule of law is fraying” and must be restored before it collapses under populist pressures.
Speaking at the Council of Europe, Mahmood struck a delicate balance between defending the core values of the ECHR and acknowledging increasing public disillusionment over how human rights laws are being applied—particularly in cases where rights appear to shield those who have broken the law. “We can preserve rights by restoring public confidence in them,” she said. “The ECHR has endured because it evolved. Now, it must do so again.”
Speaking at the Council of Europe, Mahmood said: “We can preserve rights by restoring public confidence in them. The ECHR has endured because it evolved. Now, it must do so again.”
Mahmood’s remarks come amid growing unease within the UK government over the application of certain articles of the ECHR—particularly Article 3, which prohibits torture and degrading treatment, and Article 8, which protects the right to family life. These provisions have featured prominently in legal cases that have prevented the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes.
One such case, highlighted in an ITV documentary, involved two Brazilian nationals wanted for rape and murder who successfully fought deportation from the UK by citing inhumane conditions in Brazilian prisons. The episode has intensified calls within government circles to clarify or even legislate the limits of human rights protections in such contexts.
While reaffirming the UK’s commitment to the ECHR, Mahmood stated that reform was essential to prevent a dangerous erosion of trust. “Rules are increasingly being broken and undermined,” she said. “And the values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law—once widely assumed—now face distortion, doubt, even hostility.”
The government is said to be exploring several paths to reform, including issuing clearer guidance to courts on interpreting specific articles, and potentially proposing legislative changes. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has launched a review into how Article 3 is being applied in deportation cases, while the Home Office is also revisiting how Article 8 affects immigration decisions.
Mahmood said it was time for a “shared political endeavour” among member states to ensure the convention remains relevant to today’s challenges, stressing that updating the ECHR should not be seen as weakening it. “This is not a retreat from principle. It is the very essence of the rule of law,” she said.
She also made an emotional reference to her own family history, as the daughter of Pakistani immigrants. Her parents, she said, were drawn to the UK because of its independent institutions and its fair legal system. “They believed in a country where justice didn’t depend on who you were, but on what was right,” she said.
Yet, she acknowledged that a growing number of citizens now feel that the system is skewed. “There is a perception—sometimes mistaken, sometimes grounded in reality—that human rights are being misused by those who seek to act with impunity,” she said.
Examples cited by the Justice Secretary included prisoners invoking Article 8 to challenge separation within jails, and foreign criminals using the same provision to resist deportation, even after harming or abandoning their family ties. “It is not right that dangerous prisoners’ rights are given priority over others’ safety and security,” she said. “That is not what the convention was ever intended to protect.”
She warned that if political leaders fail to address these concerns, trust in democracy itself could erode. “If judges are being asked to solve political problems that parliaments avoid, we weaken both institutions,” she cautioned. “We cannot leave these questions to the courts alone.”
Though the UK was not among the nine European nations—such as Austria, Poland, and Belgium—who signed a recent joint letter calling for a change in how the Strasbourg court interprets the ECHR, government officials say they support much of its content. Mahmood emphasised that the UK is “already actively pursuing” reform domestically.
Ultimately, Mahmood framed her call for reform as an effort to “renew the moral and democratic foundation” of the ECHR. “Commitment is not the same as complacency,” she said. “To protect what matters, we must also be willing to change.”
As Britain navigates its post-Brexit role on the global stage, Mahmood’s speech signals a new phase in its relationship with European human rights law—one that seeks to defend its values not by rejecting the convention, but by adapting it to meet the complexities of a modern, democratic society.
