Labour members divided over whether to keep or renegotiate ECHR – poll

Labour members are divided over whether Britain should stick to international agreements on the deportation of migrants, or if the country should seek to renegotiate them, an exclusive poll has revealed.

Polling for LabourList, carried out by Survation, found that 43% of members support revising migration treaties, while 45% favoured sticking with the rules – even if it restricts who can be deported.

It comes after both Reform UK and the Conservatives backed the UK’s exit from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Keir Starmer does not support withdrawal but said “we need to look again at the interpretation” of certain treaties.

Just nine percent of Labour members support ignoring or leaving migration treaties altogether, the poll found.

READ MORE: Labour members would back breaking tax pledges to fund public services – poll

Those who supported Lisa Nandy in the 2020 leadership election were the likeliest to pick this option, although this still only represented 14% of her backers.

Members who voted for Rebecca Long-Bailey in 2020 were the most overwhelming in their support for keeping international agreements intact. Some 65% of her backers want Britain to stick to the current treaties, against 24% who support renegotiating them.

Conversely, just under half (49%) of Keir Starmer’s 2020 leadership supporters favour revising the existing agreements. But a strong 40% of his backers also want to leave the treaties as they are.

READ MORE: Labour making a ‘mistake’ to focus entirely on Reform, Sir John Curtice warns

Labour has faced fraught internal disagreement over migration, with many senior figures urging the party to get a grip on the issue to face off the threat of Reform.

However, more progressive members have been dismayed over the party’s increasingly hardline stance on immigration.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed to be “tough” in her new role at Labour Party Conference and unveiled new conditions migrants must meet to qualify for indefinite leave to remain.

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The poll is the latest in a series of regular polls LabourList is publishing in partnership with leading pollsters Survation, a member of the British Polling Council and a Market Research Society Partner.

Survation surveyed 1,254 readers of LabourList, the leading dedicated newsletter and news and comment website for Labour supporters, who also said they were Labour Party members between September 23 and 25.

Data was weighted to the profile of party members by age, sex, region and 2020 Labour leadership vote, targets for which were derived from the British Election Study and the results of the 2020 leadership election.

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