What matters more to the British public: the health service or the European convention on human rights (ECHR)? It isn’t a trick question. The obvious answer is the correct one. That is why the party that recently won a big majority began this week by launching a consultation on NHS reform, while the party that would rather talk about the ECHR does so from opposition.
Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership candidate who agitates to quit the ECHR, thinks it is not a marginal matter. His argument is that European human rights law interferes with summary deportation of asylum claimants, which is an affront to sovereignty and something about which voters – especially those who have switched from the Tories to Reform UK – have strong feelings.
