Half of Tory voters want to quit European Convention on Human Rights

Half of all Conservative voters believe the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights, an opinion poll for The Telegraph has revealed.

Some 49 per cent of people who backed the Tories at the 2019 election want to quit the convention, according to the Savanta polling, with 35 per cent wanting to stay. The rest did not state an opinion.

Support for the move among Tories is higher than among the wider population and much higher than among Labour voters, just 14 per cent of whom would want to walk away.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights, which oversees the convention, made a landmark ruling that governments have a duty to protect people from climate change.

In a case brought by a group of elderly Swiss women, the Strasbourg judges ruled that Switzerland was not doing enough to tackle climate change. The ruling is binding and can trickle down to influence the law in 46 countries in Europe, including the UK.

It triggered a backlash from Tories, with Claire Coutinho, the Environment Secretary, saying: “I’m concerned by the Strasbourg court decision. How we tackle climate change affects our economic, energy, and national security. Elected politicians are best placed to make those decisions.”

The question of whether the UK should stay in the European Convention on Human Rights has split the Tory benches in recent months, in part because it is complicating efforts to tackle small boat Channel crossings.

Rishi Sunak has indicated that he is willing to defy the European court’s judges if they attempt to ground deportation flights to Rwanda, which he is hoping to start in the spring.

The Telegraph-Savanta poll tracker, published every Tuesday evening throughout this election year, offers a glimmer of hope to the Tories after a challenging few months.

Labour’s lead has shrunk to 15 percentage points, down from 21 a fortnight ago. The reason for the narrowing is unclear.

Some 42 per cent of respondents said they would back Labour at a general election, down by three percentage points. The Tories were on 27 per cent, up three percentage points.

Support for both Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats was at 10 per cent, while the Green Party was on three per cent.

More than 2,000 adults in the UK took part in the survey, conducted between April 5 and 7.

This year Savanta’s polling has had the Labour lead over the Tories fluctuating from 12 percentage points to as high as 21, indicating that some voters could still be weighing up how they will vote when the next election, expected in the autumn, is called.

Chris Hopkins, the political research director at Savanta, said: “It has been a relatively quiet period in Westminster, with the Government looking sure-footed on the main issue of the day, the Israel-Gaza conflict.

“When the Conservatives aren’t battling rolling headlines of scandal and disunity, that will almost certainly be helping them in the eyes of the electorate.

“This is only one poll, which may be an outlier and therefore taken with caution. A 15-point lead for Labour would simply be the difference between an electoral battering and an absolute wipeout for the Conservatives. That said, these results will likely hearten Rishi Sunak weeks ahead from crucial local elections.”