Starmer and hardline governments risk creating ‘hierarchy of people’ by constraining human rights

People at Gravelines, France prepare to make a Channel crossing. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights says conflating migration and crime ‘doesn’t correspond with reality’. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Keir Starmer and Europe’s hardline governments risk creating a “hierarchy of people” as they seek to address migration by curbing fundamental rights, Europe’s most senior human rights official has said.

Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, said that “middle-of-the-road politicians” are playing into the hands of the populist right.