Labour REFUSE to back May's bid to rip up human rights laws to tackle terrorism (and here are TEN reasons why they are wrong)

  • PM vowed to tear up human rights law if that is what it takes to stop terrorists
  • Strict protections widely blamed for difficulty in deport figures like Abu Qatada 
  • Also said she would look at extending detention period to 28 days if reelected
  • But Labour's Sir Keir Starmer said party would not back easing of human rights

Labour last night refused to back Theresa May’s plan to tear up human rights laws if they get in the way of tackling terrorism.

The Prime Minister has pledged to do what it takes to kick out extremists or control their movements with strict curfews and bans on using computers.

But Jeremy Corbyn and his frontbench team pledged to resist any attempts to water down human rights laws.

Despite such legislation repeatedly frustrating efforts to deport extremists, Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, said there was ‘nothing in the Human Rights Act that gets in the way of effectively tackling terrorism’. 

The PM, pictured in Norwich today, has pledged to impose tougher restrictions on would-be jihadis who are known to pose a threat but cannot be prosecuted

The PM, pictured in Norwich today, has pledged to impose tougher restrictions on would-be jihadis who are known to pose a threat but cannot be prosecuted

Labour today vowed to oppose Theresa May 's bid to toughen Britain's terror defences by easing human rights laws. Jeremy Corbyn is pictured campaigning in Glasgow today

Labour today vowed to oppose Theresa May 's bid to toughen Britain's terror defences by easing human rights laws. Jeremy Corbyn is pictured campaigning in Glasgow today

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today that in his former role as director of public prosecutions he ‘worked very closely with the security and intelligence services and we prosecuted very, very serious criminals and the Human Rights Act did not get in the way of what we were doing’.

Asked if he was comfortable with the fact the legislation made it more difficult to deport foreign terrorists, Sir Keir said: ‘I’m saying that we’re a country ruled by the rule of law.

‘The human rights of the Human Rights Act are international norms that the world has signed up to.

‘If we start throwing away our adherence to human rights in response to what has happened in the past three months, we are throwing away the very values we say are at the heart of our democracy.’

Sir Keir was then asked whether Britain should follow the example of France, which put hundreds of suspected extremists under house arrest after the Paris attacks.

He said: ‘I don’t think we’re at the stage of needing to introduce a state of emergency, we have got to keep our feet on the ground.’ 

Pakistan-born Khuram Butt was given a job on the London Underground (left) despite having appeared in a programme about radical Islamists called 'The Jihadi Next Door'

Pakistan-born Khuram Butt was given a job on the London Underground (left) despite having appeared in a programme about radical Islamists called 'The Jihadi Next Door'

The emergency services arrived at London Bridge within two minutes of the three killers going on the rampage on Saturday night

The emergency services arrived at London Bridge within two minutes of the three killers going on the rampage on Saturday night

The third terrorist behind Saturday's London Bridge terror attack was named today as Youssef Zaghba
The other attacker was named yesterday as Moroccan-born Rachid Redouane

The other two attackers have been named as Youssef Zaghba (left) and Moroccan-born Rachid Redouane (right)

Mr Corbyn also argued against changing human rights laws. ‘We won’t defeat terrorism by ripping up our basic rights and our democracy,’ he told BBC Breakfast.

‘We defeat terrorism by our communities, by our vigilance and by police action to isolate and detain those who wish us harm.’ Mrs May yesterday highlighted how human rights laws had made it more difficult to tackle terrorism.

‘It has taken a long time sometimes to deport terror suspects,’ she told LBC. ‘I’ve had some battles in the past to make sure that I can kick some hate preachers out of the United Kingdom but I did it.’

Later at a rally in Norfolk, she added: ‘The threat is evolving, we need to adapt our response to that.’

Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green said the Prime Minister wanted to take ‘common sense measures’ to fight terrorism as ‘any responsible government would want to’. ‘We all remember the cases in the past when because of the use by these terrorists of human rights legislation they could drag the case out for many, many years – and many people rightly feel frustrated about that,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

Mr Green added that the Tory manifesto pledges to keep the UK in the European Convention of Human Rights ‘throughout the coming parliament’, though it was ‘possible to have derogations’ from the legislation.

Tory minister Andrew Percy said: ‘The terror threat is changing and we need to ensure we have the powers to take on those who seek to harm us, but Labour don’t appear willing or able.’  

And here are TEN reasons why you're wrong, Sir Keir 

£1million payout: Suicide bomber Fiddler

£1million payout: Suicide bomber Fiddler

1 Hate preacher Abu Hamza’s lawyers used human rights laws to frustrate his extradition for eight years, costing taxpayers £25 million. He tried to argue his extradition to America was unlawful as he could be subject to ‘ill-treatment’ – contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. When he was finally sent to the US in 2015, he was handed two life sentences, plus 100 years.

2 Ronald Fiddler’s lawyers used the Human Rights Act to get him up to £1 million in compensation following his detention in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. In February this year, the 50-year-old blew himself up in a suicide car bombing at an Iraqi army base.

3 Extremist cleric Abu Qatada used human rights legislation to delay his removal to Jordan on terror charges. In a controversial 2012 ruling, the Strasbourg court said the fanatic could not be removed on the grounds he would not get a ‘fair trial’. He was finally deported to Jordan in 2013 but later acquitted of plotting atrocities.

4 Six Algerian terror suspects with links to Al-Qaeda were allowed to stay in Britain last year after a costly and lengthy legal battle. The Islamist extremists – two of whom were connected to a poison murder plot – were freed after an immigration court said there was a ‘real risk’ they would be tortured if they were deported to Algeria.

5 A hate preacher won a legal bid to have his tag removed despite breaching his control order at least 11 times. The fanatic – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was suspected of helping to raise thousands of pounds for terror group Al Shabaab. A High Court ruled in 2015 that the tag was making him delusional because he believed MI5 had put a bomb inside it. This was a breach of Article 3 – prohibiting torture.

6 Nine hijackers took control of an internal flight in Afghanistan in 2000 before flying it to the UK and threatening to kill those on board unless they were granted asylum. An immigration court in 2005 ruled they could not be sent back to Afghanistan because they could be exposed to ‘inhumane or degrading treatment’.

7 A Taliban thug accused of murder in Afghanistan was allowed to stay in Britain. Judges ruled in 2015 that deporting the 32-year-old, whose name was withheld by the courts, would breach Article 3 as he could be ‘at risk of mistreatment and physical harm’.

8 A convicted Al-Qaeda terrorist linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre was allowed to stay to protect his ‘right to family life’. Baghdad Meziane was jailed for 11 years in 2003 for running a terror network. Yet he was released from prison five years early and allowed to return to his family home in Leicester.

9 Two Libyan extremists deemed a threat to national security were allowed to stay. An immigration court ruled in 2007 that their human rights could be breached.

10 A court ruled that hate preacher Hani al-Sibai, who has links to the Tunisian beach massacre and is also said to have radicalised the IS executioner known as ‘Jihadi John’, cannot be returned to Egypt because he might be tortured or killed. Over two decades he has received £123,000 in legal aid.