LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed in an interview aired Wednesday to review how UK courts interpret international human rights laws as he bids to curb immigration levels and deport more migrants.
Starmer is battling to stem the irregular arrival of migrants in small boats across the Channel as well as the number of people coming through other regular legal channels.
Both have reached record levels in recent years, helping spur anti-immigrant sentiment and the rise of Brexit champion Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party.
Shortly after warning his center-left Labour party’s annual conference Tuesday that Britain faces a “battle for the soul of the country,” Starmer told broadcasters his government will reassess various rights protections for migrants.
“We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, and we’ve already begun to do that work in some of our domestic legislation,” he told BBC Radio.
“It’s the refugee conventions, it’s the torture conventions, it’s the convention on the rights of children.
“I’m not going to tear all that down. I believe in those instruments... but all international instruments, and this is long-established, have to be applied in the circumstances as they are now.”
The UK leader said those “genuinely fleeing persecution should be afforded asylum” but the country was “seeing mass migration in a way that we haven’t seen in previous years.”
Reform has vowed to scrap the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), while Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, favors reforming its application in Britain.
He told the BBC that Articles 3 of the ECHR — prohibiting torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and used by asylum seekers to stay in the UK or fight deportation — was an example.
“I do think we should look at that again,” the UK leader said.
“I think there’s a difference between someone being deported to summary execution and someone who is simply going somewhere where they don’t have the same level of health care, or... prison conditions.”
Starmer also noted that Article 8, stating “everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life,” would also be reexamined.
UK courts have interpreted it in some “exceptional circumstances” as providing the right to remain in Britain with relatives.
In a May policy paper, the government pledged new laws would “clarify” how to interpret it.
The interior ministry said in September that new legislation will reform “family immigration” rules so they are based on actions of “parliament, rather than ad hoc court decisions.”
In response to Starmer’s comments, Akiko Hart, director of rights organization Liberty, warned the approach risked “setting us on a path to undermining the rights of every person in Britain.”
UK to review how courts interpret migrants’ rights: Starmer
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UK to review how courts interpret migrants’ rights: Starmer
- Starmer is battling to stem the irregular arrival of migrants in small boats across the Channel
- “We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, and we’ve already begun to do that work in some of our domestic legislation,” he told BBC Radio
India rolls out strictest anti-pollution curbs as toxic smog engulfs Delhi
- Private monitors in several parts of northern Delhi recorded AQI spikes between 550 and 700s
- Authorities invoked stage four of the capital region’s emergency pollution-control framework
NEW DELHI: India’s capital choked under a thick blanket of smog on Sunday, with the government imposing anti-pollution curbs after monitoring stations in some areas recorded extremely hazardous air quality.
Home to 30 million people, Delhi has not recorded a single “clean air” day in 2025, with Air Quality Index readings hitting high above the 50 score throughout the year.
On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.
Worsening since late October, official records over the weekend were in the severe to severe-plus range of 400–500, but as 24-hour averages, they did not capture the peaks. Private monitors in several parts of North and North West Delhi recorded AQI spikes above 550 and even into the 700s in real-time.
On Saturday evening, the Ministry of Environment’s Commission for Air Quality Management invoked stage four — the highest level — of the Graded Response Action Plan for Delhi and surrounding areas.
To “prevent further deterioration of air quality in the region,” the commission suspended all non-essential construction, shut stone crushers and mining operations, stopped entry of trucks into the capital region, and ordered schools to shift to hybrid classes or online, where possible.
While authorities blamed the pollution on “adverse meteorological conditions,” residents have been demanding more government action.
“The situation is so bad in Delhi that we don’t have any option but to force kids to do online classes. The government has failed us; it has not done anything to address the issue,” said Nabanita Nayak, who decided for her teenage children to attend school online only, despite concerns over their screen addiction.
“If the kids are too much in front of laptops, that’s also an issue. As a mother, I am worried.”
Delhi’s pollution has been worsening since Diwali in late October, when the average AQI has been above 370, or “very poor.” Since mid-November, it has been over 400, which means “severe” air quality, with certain areas recording 500 and above, which is classified as a “hazardous” level.
“I don’t feel proud living in Delhi. It’s the capital city of the country … We talk about being a developed nation by 2047 — we have deadlines,” said Jagriti Arora, who is keeping her 7-year-old daughter at home to prevent allergy flare-ups caused by air pollution.
“The government has to do something … China had a big problem with pollution, but now they’ve managed to bring it down.”
Delhi’s air quality deteriorates in winter due to local emissions and seasonal weather conditions. Cold temperatures and low wind speeds result in a temperature inversion, which traps pollutants close to the ground instead of letting them disperse. This allows emissions from millions of vehicles, ongoing construction, and nearby industrial activity to accumulate in the air. Urban waste burning and dust from construction sites further add to it.
“This is not a new thing. This has been happening now for over 10 years,” Arora said. “You can see it. You don’t need to actually look at an AQI meter to see how bad the pollution is these days.”
