London, December 13, 2025
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently modernize the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to update asylum rules and combat the rising influence of far-right politics amid ongoing migration challenges. This initiative follows the dispatch of senior UK officials for high-level discussions in Strasbourg.
Starmer’s Push to Reform the ECHR
Starmer and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen co-authored a joint call emphasizing that the ECHR’s asylum framework, established decades ago, no longer fits the complex realities of the 21st century. Starmer highlighted concerns over Articles 3 and 8, which protect against torture and uphold the right to family life, noting these provisions often obstruct the UK’s efforts to reform asylum policies.
The Prime Minister has deployed Justice Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Richard Hermer to engage with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, pressing for legal reforms aimed at closing loopholes exploited by people-smuggling networks and rogue states that weaponize migration flows.
Addressing the Migration and Political Crisis
The impetus behind Starmer’s campaign is twofold: tackling outdated protections that complicate deportations and blunting surges in far-right support fueled by migration concerns. Far-right parties across Europe have capitalized on public frustration over migration, presenting a political challenge that the UK Labour government is determined to counter through more robust, modernized human rights standards.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s announced domestic asylum reforms depend heavily on changes to ECHR interpretations, which Starmer argues are paramount to effective migration control and political stability.
Controversies and Warnings
Starmer’s proposals have drawn sharp criticism from human rights advocates and some Labour Party members who fear that revising the ECHR might weaken vital safeguards for vulnerable groups. Opponents caution that reforms framed as necessary for security could instead erode fundamental protections and serve as concessions to right-wing populism.
Despite these concerns, an emerging consensus among several European governments acknowledges the convention’s provisions are insufficiently adapted to current migration realities, prompting serious debate over legal modernization.
Historical and Institutional Context
The European Convention on Human Rights has been in force since 1953 and constitutes the cornerstone of human rights law in much of Europe, including integration into the UK’s Human Rights Act. It guarantees key freedoms and protections but was drafted in a vastly different geopolitical and migratory environment. As migration pressures escalate in Europe, the convention faces unprecedented scrutiny and calls for reform.
Reforming the ECHR could significantly reshape legal frameworks that have long governed asylum and deportation practices across member states, raising questions about sovereignty, security, and human rights protection.
Implications Moving Forward
Starmer’s campaign to reform human rights protections is closely tied to broader efforts to curb the rise of far-right political forces leveraging migration issues. Success in Strasbourg could validate and facilitate the UK government’s ambitious asylum reforms and signal a coordinated European stance on migration governance.
This initiative underscores the political urgency for Labour to present decisive leadership on complex migration and human rights issues ahead of forthcoming leader summits. How European institutions respond to this call may determine the trajectory of asylum policy and political dynamics in the region for years to come.