On 4 November 1950, Britain helped to create one of the most important international agreements of the modern age.

On 4 November 1950, Britain helped to create one of the most important international agreements of the modern age. The European Convention on Human Rights was written in the aftermath of war by British lawyers determined to prevent tyranny from ever taking hold again. It was designed to ensure that no government could act without restraint and that the rights and dignity of every person would be protected by law.

The Convention was built on British values and traditions. Its architects drew directly from the principles of liberty and justice embedded in our legal system. It was championed by Winston Churchill and shaped by British judges and lawyers who had seen what unchecked power could do. It was not imposed on Britain, it grew from Britain.

Over seventy-five years, the Convention has shaped and strengthened justice across the United Kingdom. It has upheld the right to a fair trial, protected freedom of religion, and defended privacy. It has forced reform where governments failed and exposed injustice where the state turned away. The ECHR helped to end the criminalisation of same-sex relationships in Northern Ireland. It defended journalists who refused to reveal their sources. It upheld the right of a Christian woman to wear a cross at work. It held the state to account for child neglect and abuse, and required transparency in government surveillance.

It also underpins the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace and stability to Northern Ireland. The Convention guarantees equality before the law and respect between communities. To abandon it now would not only break that promise but risk the peace it helped to build.

Those who want Britain to leave the ECHR claim that it would restore control and strengthen sovereignty. In truth, it would do neither. Leaving would remove the safeguards that stop any government from placing itself above the law. It would weaken protection for victims, whistleblowers and refugees. It would tell the world that Britain no longer stands for the values it once helped to define.

The ECHR does not block justice, it guarantees that justice is applied fairly. Immigration cases make up only a small part of its work, yet they are used as a smokescreen by those who wish to tear it down. The truth is that the Convention has strengthened rights that already belong to the British people.

Seventy-five years on, the European Convention on Human Rights remains one of Britain’s greatest achievements. It reflects the best of this country’s character, founded on fairness, liberty and the rule of law. Walking away from it would not be an act of independence. It would be an act of forgetting.

We should take pride in what Britain built and defend it with the same resolve that first brought it into being.