0:00
The one thing the newspapers keep reporting on that makes people jolly angry
0:03
is that about one in three of those who claim asylum are granted asylum under what are called exceptional circumstances
0:12
And, you know, the stories that have driven people absolutely potty. You know, for example, a Pakistani man jailed for child sex offences
0:21
but he couldn't be deported because there were exceptional circumstances in that this would be unduly harsh on his children
0:27
and there was a chicken nuggets case. what's really going on here. It's all to do with Article 8, isn't it, of the ECHR
0:33
Exactly. So thank you for having me on. So Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
0:38
guarantees you a right to private and family life. And so in circumstances where you'd otherwise not have a right to remain in the UK
0:46
you can apply to remain based on your Article 8 rights, and that is applied based on Home Office guidance and rules
0:54
If it cause undue hardship to yourself, your family, so your children or your partner
1:01
What about the undue hardship some of these people inflict upon British people
1:05
Well, exactly. And so this is supposed to be applied in exceptional circumstances It become far from exceptional and even where So this is But it now a third of cases Exactly That isn exceptional
1:18
No, it's not. I mean, exceptional might be 1%, might be 2%, but not 30%
1:23
No, exactly. And that's what's driven the government to seek to clarify the framework
1:28
where Article 8 is applied. I don't think that will make much of a difference, because
1:32
the reason it's in the immigration guidance is Theresa May tried that same idea back in
1:37
2012. And so the courts have a very different idea from the Home Office about how these rights
1:43
should be applied. We had last night on the programme a former Chief Immigration Minister
1:48
officer from Calais, British officer in Calais. He said one of the points about the ECHR
1:54
is that even if it appears to be a breach of the treaty, even if there's been a judgment in
2:00
Strasbourg, that many other European countries simply ignore it. Is that true
2:05
Yes, I think that's largely true. I think we, partly because of our legal setup
2:11
partly just because of English culture, we dot the I's, we cross the T's
2:15
We apply the ECHR in an expansive way, partly by Operation the Human Rights Act
2:19
which a lot of European countries don't. That doesn't mean that Italy doesn't have its ECHR issues
