UK citizens will lose most if country exits European Convention on Human Rights, warns expert

British citizens stand to lose the most should the country pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), an expert has warned. 

The ECHR is a landmark international treaty designed to protect human rights and basic freedoms in Europe. 

Members of the British government have said they want to pull out of the ECHR to allow for a highly controversial crackdown on migration.  

Unveiled last week, London's plan to detain and remove people who arrive "irregularly" on small boats by crossing the Channel is likely to violate protections ensured by the treaty, such as limits on detention and nonrefoulement. 

"The whole conversation is about what this [exiting the ECHR] would enable the UK to do to outsiders, such as migrants and asylum seekers," said Miriam Ronzoni, Professor of Political Theory at the University of Manchester.

"All of this is worrying and morally abhorrent, but one thing the government and Tory backbenchers in favour of leaving the ECHR are conspicuously silent about is that most cases brought to the ECHR are cases about human rights violations committed by states against their own​ citizens."

"In other words, it is also, or perhaps mainly, UK citizens who stand to lose a lot in terms of human rights protections," she added.

On Tuesday, Britain's interior minister Suella Braverman said she could not make a definitive statement on whether the 'Illegal Migration Bill' was compatible with the ECHR. 

Describing the current process as "deeply flawed", she said the government had “initiated discussions” with the ECHR, following its intervention last year to block plans to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda. 

"For me, the issue is that [the ECHR] is being weaponised to 'get back control of our border', whilst the