‘Moment of national pride’: Lord Hermer says Britain should ‘celebrate’ creation of ECHR

Lord Hermer has said the UK should celebrate the creation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as a moment of “national pride”.

The attorney general also rejected the characterisation of critics of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which oversees the implementation of the convention, who contend it is “interfering in the British democratic process.”

The comments came as Lord Hermer appeared before the joint committee on human rights, which questioned the cabinet minister on the work of the Attorney General’s Office.

In the opening question of the session, levelled by committee chair and crossbench peer Lord Alton, Lord Hermer was asked to reflect on the operation of the ECHR and its future, with 2025 marking the 75th anniversary of the convention’s creation.

The attorney general said: “The history of Western Europe is a bloody history of centuries of warfare.

“And in the short shadow of the horrors of the Second World War, of the Holocaust and of the carnage on the battlefields, this country, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, brought together the Council of Europe to identify our common values and to put it into a framework to protect and promote those values.

“And on this 75th anniversary of the creation of the convention, the convention of the Council of Europe, signed in London in 1949, the convention created the year after. This is a moment to celebrate it.

“It’s also a moment to reflect on it – to reflect upon the nature of the values that are contained in the convention, which I think are as relevant today as they were at the time it was formed.”

He added: “And so it is a moment of national pride to celebrate the convention because of the role that we played in its creation.”

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