By Joe Meighan -

“And for his next trick…” 

After the disaster that was Brexit, Nigel Farage’s latest big idea is… to leave something else. This time, it’s the European Convention on Human Rights, supposedly to tackle immigration. Where have we heard this before? 

The definition of madness, they say, is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result. But Nigel seems to think if you keep pulling the same lever, eventually something magical happens. Brexit didn’t fix immigration, so obviously the answer is… more Brexit. 

Of course, what Brexit did deliver is plain for all to see: weaker trade, labour shortages across vital sectors, British businesses tied up in red tape, and farmers, exporters and small businesses left high and dry. The promise of “sunlit uplands” has turned into higher food prices and an economy permanently lagging behind our neighbours. Farage’s flagship project has left Britain poorer, more divided and less influential. 

And now, apparently, the solution to those failures is not to repair the damage or rebuild relations, but to keep hacking away at yet another set of international ties. Today it’s the ECHR. Tomorrow, who knows? The UN? NATO? Perhaps next we’ll be told Britain must boldly exit the Solar System itself to “take back control.” One day, you simply run out of institutions to leave – and run out of people to blame. 

The ECHR, of course, is not some Brussels invention but a cornerstone of post-war Europe, written in the main by British lawyers, influenced largely by English common law, to defend the very freedoms we claim to value. Walking away from it would undermine human rights protections for ordinary people, weaken Britain’s standing abroad, and isolate us even further on the world stage. It would also offer absolutely no constructive plan to reform and rationalise our immigration policy.  

European Movement UK welcomes the Labour Government’s renewed seriousness about Europe. Rebuilding links with our neighbours – through practical cooperation, stronger trade ties and eventually deeper integration – offers Britain a real path back to prosperity and influence. The lesson of the past decade is clear: isolation doesn’t work. Partnership does.

Farage may still be stuck rehearsing the same tired routine. But Britain doesn’t need another trick. It needs a plan.