Nigel Farage plan to withdraw from ECHR backed by Scottish Tory MPs

NEW: The Scottish Conservatives have been accused of trying to appease Reform.

View Image

Three Scottish Tory MPs voted for Nigel Farage’s plan for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

Andrew Bowie, Harriet Cross and John Lamont backed the Reform UK leader amid claims of a lurch to the Right by the Conservatives.

A ten minute rule motion allows a backbench MP to argue for a new law in a speech lasting up to ten minutes.

In his speech, Farage said: "We are not sovereign all the while we are part of the ECHR, the European Council and its associated court. It's as simple as that."

The ECHR was incorporated into UK law by the last Labour Government and Keir Starmer’s administration opposes withdrawal.

The Reform UK leader's motion was defeated by 154 votes to 96, but the bid attracted Scottish Tory support.

Liberal Democrat MP Susan Murray said: “The Scottish Conservatives are clinging to Nigel Farage’s coattails. They have abandoned any pretence of being a sensible, moderate party and headed off into the wilderness.

“The European Convention on Human Rights protects many everyday rights we take for granted.

“Only two countries have left the ECHR: Greece, which left in 1967 after a military takeover, and Russia, which was expelled in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. Greece rejoined the ECHR in 1974 after democracy was restored. This is the company Nigel Farage and the Scottish Conservatives want to put us in.

“I think the question for Scottish Conservative MPs is this: Is there any policy that Nigel Farage could put forward that is so beyond the pale that you wouldn’t vote for it?”

To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here