Sunak's Push For European Court Reform Knocked Back

PM's bid to alter deportation rules hits resistance at summit

- ADAM FORREST

Rishi Sunak's plan to persuade fellow leaders to change European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rules blocking Rwanda deportation flights was dealt a blow as summit leaders dismissed the idea of reform. The prime minister is keen for the Strasbourg court - which is overseen by the 46-member Council of Europe - to change its rules to allow his government to send failed asylum seekers to the central African country.

But Iceland's foreign minister, Thordis Gylfadottir, said that this week's Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik would not be used to reform the rules covering the kind of orders that prevented the first deportation flight from taking off last year. The prime minister appealed to the ECHR's president, Siofra O'Leary, directly yesterday, but Ms Gylfadottir suggested that the council was not keen on reform and wanted to uphold existing human rights laws.

"The leaders are reconfirming their commitme to the common human rights protection system, and in particular, the court is a cornerstone of our protection system," Ms Gylfadottir told BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme. The foreign affairs minister added: "But the next two days, the time we have, we are not using to reform certain articles in the court."

Pressed on whether there would be any discussion of Mr Sunak's call for reforms to how injunctions work, Ms Gylfadottir said: "I believe that there will be a discussion on it, but there will not be, I think, a real concrete outcome on reforming certain articles."