David Cameron is said to have ruled out withdrawal from European convention on human rights – against advice of home secretary and justice secretary

David Cameron has ruled out withdrawing from the European convention on human rights despite opposition from Theresa May and Michael Gove, according to reports.

The Daily Telegraph reported that there was a cabinet split over whether to simply replace the Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights or to go further and withdraw entirely from the European convention.

Last year, Chris Grayling, the former justice secretary, set out proposals to withdraw from the convention if a looser relationship with Strasbourg could not be negotiated.

However, the Conservative manifesto contained only the more modest proposals for replacing the Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights.

The government backed away further this week when it only brought forward plans for a consultation on reforming human rights law as part of the Queen’s speech over fears Cameron could not get this through the Commons with his thin majority.

A senior government source told the Telegraph: “Withdrawal is not going to happen. Michael Gove and Theresa May think it’s the only solution but David Cameron’s clear this is off the table.

The British bill of rights could mitigate the worst excesses of the Human Rights Act but it won’t change the fundamentals.”

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The government’s policy is as set out in the manifesto, and that is shared by Theresa May, the prime minister and indeed the whole cabinet.”



Asked about the issue on Sky News, Priti Patel, a Tory employment minister who attends cabinet, dismissed any suggestion there was a split. She said: “I can categorically say that there is no row and that we are committed, as the prime minister said last week when responding to the Queen’s speech, that we are committed to delivering a British bill of rights. That is something that we will do.”

Many in the Tory party want to break all links with the European court of human rights, mostly because of the way it has been used by foreign criminals to fight against attempts to deport them.

Over the weekend, Nick Timothy, a former special adviser to May, said in an article for the Sunday Telegraph that Britain should withdraw from the convention because it was the only way of making sure British judges do not have to follow European rulings.

On the other side, there has been a campaign from the centrist, liberal wing of the Tory party to stop the abolition of the Human Rights Act. Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, has been strongly warning against the consequences of replacing it with a British bill of rights, not least because it underpins devolution agreements and would set a bad example to other countries in the world.

It was by no means certain that Cameron could have got plans to replace the Human Rights Act through the House of Commons as Labour, the SNP and Tory rebels could have acted together to block it.