Attorney General Lord Hermer told a City of London audience that respect for human rights is central to economic growth and urged continued reliance on skilled migration, while a High Court ruling the same day dealt a major blow to the government's new migrant returns scheme.
In an address defending the government's agenda, Lord Hermer said "respect for rights has always been a critical component in both growth and the rule of law," arguing that people who feel secure in their rights are more likely to participate in the economy, start businesses, take risks and innovate. He also defended the Employment Rights Bill championed by Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner as a measure that will improve worker productivity by extending legal protections into precarious employment.
Lord Hermer acknowledged growing political pressure over the European Convention on Human Rights and said he would consider "robust" changes to how Article 8, which protects the right to private and family life, is interpreted by British courts. His comments come amid renewed calls from some Conservative and Reform party figures to reduce the treaty's influence on domestic deportation decisions, and from former Labour home secretaries urging the UK to "decouple" from the convention.
The Attorney General also criticised politicians who single out individual judges for attack, calling such behaviour dangerous and a threat to economic confidence. He tied respect for legal rights, fair working conditions and the protection of property to the broader economic strategy he said the government is pursuing.
The speech coincided with a High Court decision blocking ministers from returning a small-boat migrant to France under the government's "one-in, one-out" returns deal — the first legal challenge to reach the courts. The ruling and separate last-minute legal actions that prevented two flights from Heathrow from departing have left the returns scheme in legal uncertainty and prompted sharp criticism from opposition and Conservative figures alike.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the plan as "in complete disarray," saying two flights and a court defeat had left the government unable to remove anyone under the scheme. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who earlier in his premiership abandoned the previous government's Rwanda asylum deal, has said the UK will remain a party to the ECHR even as his administration pursues new bilateral arrangements with France to return migrants.
The Employment Rights Bill has also generated internal and external opposition. Critics fear the legislation, which includes measures such as the right to switch off and automatic entitlements from an employee's first day, will impose large costs on business and increase strike capacity. Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith has urged amendments to reduce what he called the bill's burdens on employers. Lord Hermer, by contrast, argued the bill would raise job quality and future prospects for workers, creating a more productive workforce.
Legal experts and campaigners note that the Human Rights Act incorporates the ECHR into UK law, and that Article 8 has frequently been invoked in challenges to deportation and removal decisions. The High Court ruling is likely to prompt additional legal challenges from individuals facing deportation, potentially delaying the government's returns policy for months while courts consider the merits of those cases.
The debate over the balance between human rights protections and immigration enforcement in the UK parallels discussions in other democracies, including the United States, where policymakers and courts have long grappled with similar tensions between enforcement and legal safeguards. Lord Hermer framed the protection of rights as not merely principle but practical public policy, saying a society governed by law that protects rights also protects the vulnerable and provides the conditions for innovation and investment.
His remarks come as the government faces pressure from hardline critics to step back from human-rights constraints on deportations and as opponents warn that undermining judicial independence and legal protections could harm investor confidence. Ministers have yet to set out detailed proposals for altering judicial interpretation of Article 8, and Labour has maintained that it will not withdraw the UK from the ECHR.
The unfolding legal challenges and political disputes make the immediate future of the returns scheme uncertain, while debates over the Employment Rights Bill are likely to continue to shape the government's economic and social policy agenda in the months ahead.