This is a historic moment. The Conservative Party has decided to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and we are the only party to have a proper plan to make sure that works in practice.
This is not a decision we have taken lightly. But it will enable our plan to remove 150,000 illegal immigrants and foreign criminals each year.
We are clear: the ability to control our country’s borders is non-negotiable.
Labour has lost control of our borders and is now embroiled in a full-blown migration crisis.
All we have seen since the election is gimmick after gimmick from this Labour Government. So far this year, Labour has delivered the worst channel crossing numbers in history.
Over 57,000 people have crossed the Channel since they took power.
The British people are paying the price, paying for these illegal immigrants to stay in hotels while we struggle with the cost of living. And we are bearing the brunt of the illegal immigration crime wave.
No one can deny that the way the courts now interpret the ECHR makes it unrecognisable from the system which Winston Churchill first helped shape.
A paedophile not returned to Zimbabwe in case he faces hostility there – without a thought for the rights of children here to be protected.
A violent murderer not returned to Uganda because mental health services there are apparently not as good as here. These criminals are still in the UK – thanks to the ECHR.
This is madness. We must leave if we want to take back control of our immigration system.
Our new Borders plan will do that. We will ban all asylum and other claims by illegal immigrants. We will remove 750,000 people with no right to be here – 150,000 a year.
Illegal immigrants, foreign criminals, visa overstayers – gone. The illegal immigration scandal will end.
We will stop issuing and withdraw overseas aid to ensure countries always take back their own nationals – just as we take back ours.
And if they can’t be returned to their home country, they will go to a safe third country like Rwanda. We will also abolish legal aid for immigration, abolish most judicial review of immigration matters and abolish the immigration tribunal.
When we say we will do whatever it takes to stop illegal immigration – we mean it and we have a proper plan to do it. We are the only party who can say this.