Tough stance: Home Secretary Theresa May is to insist Britain must pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights, to deport dangerous foreign criminals

Theresa May is to insist Britain must pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights, to deport dangerous foreign criminals.

The Home Secretary is advising David Cameron that complete withdrawal, freeing Britain from Strasbourg judges’ edicts, is the only credible option, say Government sources.

The move came as it emerged the number of foreign criminals avoiding deportation rose by 50 per cent last year despite government efforts to clamp down on the problem.

The Conservatives are finalising plans to curtail the role of the European Court of Human Rights in the UK, due to be unveiled at the autumn party conference and included in its manifesto for next year’s general election.

Two of the Government’s biggest defenders of the court and convention – former Attorney General Dominic Grieve and veteran Cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke – were sacked in the Prime Minister’s reshuffle earlier this summer, removing the main internal obstacles to reform.

But senior Tories are understood to be split into those who favour a straightforward withdrawal from the convention and others who are arguing for a ‘halfway house’.

Options include a temporary suspension of Britain’s membership, or attempts to establish pre-eminence for the UK Parliament and Supreme Court, allowing them to override Strasbourg rulings.

But Mrs May is telling Mr Cameron the Tories should commit to leaving the convention altogether, according to government sources.

‘There are people in Downing Street who talk about some kind of halfway house,’ one source said. ‘Theresa is convinced that won’t work and is expected to back complete withdrawal.’ The convention, enshrined in British law by Labour’s Human Rights Act, has become increasingly unpopular with many Conservatives.

Critics say the Strasbourg court has gone well beyond its remit and created rights not included by the convention’s founders.

Mr Cameron is understood to be convinced that a good proportion of voters’ anti-EU sentiment is due to Strasbourg rulings preventing the removal of foreign-born criminals and terror suspects – though the convention and court have nothing to do with Brussels.

The ECHR has been invoked by dozens fighting deportation. They argue that its provisions mean they are entitled to various rights, including to a family life.

Obstacles: Two of the Government’s biggest defenders of the court and convention - veteran Cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke (left) and former Attorney General Dominic Grieve (right) - were sacked in the Prime Minister’s reshuffle earlier this summer

It emerged yesterday that the number considered for removal but not sent home rose by 50 per cent last year to 1,310, up from 890.

Criminals not thrown out included 15 murderers, five guilty of manslaughter, 15 rapists and 140 robbers. Foreign convicts are now avoiding deportation in one in three cases – often as a result of the Human Rights Act. In the past, use of this law has led to terror suspects being allowed to stay in the UK due to having family here.

Mrs May succeeded in sending the radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada back to Jordan after more than a decade of legal battles – and accused the Strasbourg court of having repeatedly ‘moved the goalposts’ by establishing new legal grounds for blocking his deportation.

Deported: Mrs May succeeded in sending the radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada (pictured behind bars at the Jordanian military court) back to Jordan after more than a decade of legal battles

The Conservatives plan to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, which would enact most of the ECHR’s provisions in a more flexible way and give Westminster and the Supreme Court the ultimate say.

The Prime Minister said last year he was willing consider full-scale withdrawal to ensure Britain can remove foreign criminals. He said: ‘It may be that that is where we end up. Whatever that takes, we must deliver that outcome.’

Last year former Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said the court was undermining Parliament’s sovereignty and must ‘stop here’.