ALMOST half of the British public back remaining within the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), nearly twice the number who would see the treaty torn up, according to new polling carried out for Amnesty International.

After the atrocities of the second world war, the treaty, which came into force in 1953, was the first legally binding instrument to guarantee certain rights and freedoms set out under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; it is enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The only country to leave the ECHR is Russia, expelled in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine. Some 46 states remain signatories.

Ahead of the 75th anniversary of the convention signing tomorrow, the poll found that 48 per cent of the 2,099 respondents backed the treaty — with 78 per cent believing the rights within it should be made permanent — compared with 26 per cent who would withdraw. 

Despite being a party to its drafting, Britain’s future as a signatory has come under threat in recent times as Labour, the Tories and Reform jostle to be toughest on immigration. As Labour reviews the impact of rights legislation on its deportations, the Tories have vowed to tear up the treaty should they regain office, while Reform UK’s Nigel Farage launched a failed parliamentary attempt to withdraw last week.

Among the three parties, support to stay in was strongest in Labour at 73 per cent;  despite their leader’s position, 43 per cent of Tory supporters also backed staying in.

Amnesty International UK’s Tom Morrison said: “The polling could not be clearer: people value their rights and they do not trust politicians to mark their own homework.

“Seventy-five years ago, in the aftermath of war and atrocity, a generation resolved that ‘never again’ must mean something real.

“Human rights were not designed for fair weather. They were built for the storms, for the moments of populism, institutional failure and authoritarian creep: exactly the sort of challenges we face today.

“Honouring the ECHR is not about the past. It’s about protecting people now and safeguarding what future generations will inherit.”

Warning that withdrawal would send “an appalling message on the international stage,” SNP First Minister John Swinney said: “That is not the future that I want for Scotland.

“With some increasingly extreme political voices advocating against these rights, I believe it is vital that those of us who believe in human rights and equality redouble our efforts to stand behind them.”