The Conservative Government’s record on international law has provided Russia and China with the “ammunition” needed to defend their own rule breaches, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary has said.
David Lammy said a future Labour government would commit to restoring the duty for ministers to comply with international law – an obligation removed by the Cameron-era government.
Should Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer enter No 10 at the next general election, his administration will have an “unwavering respect for the rule of law both in domestic law and international law”, Mr Lammy said.
The shadow cabinet member used a speech to the Bingham Centre of International Law on Monday to detail a list of times he claimed Tory governments have flouted its international obligations.
As prime minister, Boris Johnson threatened to rewrite Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade arrangements without agreement from the European Union.
Our ability to protect and promote international law has been fundamentally undermined by the dangerous attitude of the present government— Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy
Meanwhile, the Government’s determination to tackle the small boats migrants crisis through the Nationality and Borders Act led to condemnation from lawyers and United Nations (UN) officials about its humanitarian impact, with similar criticism levelled at the Illegal Migration Bill.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week faced calls from his own backbenches to rethink plans to ban councils from supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
Tory MPs said the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill was not compliant with the UK’s existing foreign policy commitments on the Israel/Palestine peace process.
Mr Lammy said: “We consistently proclaim the importance of complying with international law to other nations.
“We tell Iran to comply with the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). We tell China to comply with the Sino-British Joint Declaration in Hong Kong.
“We are right to do so. Agreements must be kept.
“Yet our ability to protect and promote international law has been fundamentally undermined by the dangerous attitude of the present Government.
“It has weakened our foreign policy while strengthening that of our rivals.
“It has provided ammunition to countries such as Russia and China, who use allegations of hypocrisy as a tool in the UN.”
Mr Lammy, a qualified barrister, said Labour’s commitment to keeping its international obligations is “in our interests in a newly dangerous and divided world”.
He said his party would update the ministerial code to reinstate the duty of ministers to comply with international law and Britain’s treaty obligations.
A Starmer government would also commit to staying part of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to “stop it being used as a political football by the Tory right”, he said.
There have been some calls from right-wing Tory MPs for the UK to leave the convention to enable the Home Office to more easily enact its plan to send asylum seekers arriving via unauthorised routes to a third country, such as Rwanda.
But Mr Lammy reiterated shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper’s stance that Labour would “end the gimmick of the unworkable Rwanda scheme”, instead ploughing the money saved into a cross-border police unit to “crackdown on smuggling gangs”.
The senior Opposition politician also said his party would support the establishment of an international anti-corruption court in a move “designed to prosecute the most egregious acts of corruption”.
He said that would include “cleaning up the ‘London laundromat’ at home” by preventing bids by Russian oligarchs to invest their dirty money into the UK capital, while also “defeating kleptocracy around the world”.
Mr Lammy concluded: “Labour’s vision for foreign policy is to reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home.
“We believe in Britain but we are frustrated by the Conservative-manufactured decline in our influence.
“We can restore Britain’s standing and realise our potential by using the international rule of law as the connective tissue which binds us to other nations.”
