Reform UK and the Conservative Party have intensified calls for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), after a foreign national convicted of raping a sleeping woman won the right to remain in Britain. The case has reignited a long-running political row over whether human rights laws are being used to block the deportation of foreign criminals, with critics arguing the ECHR prevents ministers from removing dangerous offenders from the country.

The row comes amid wider Conservative criticism of the government's handling of immigration and deportation policy, including separate claims that the number of foreign offenders earmarked for deportation but still at large in Britain has risen sharply since Labour took office. Both parties are using the case to press for legal reform, with Reform UK and the Tories arguing that leaving the ECHR would give the UK greater power to deport foreign criminals whose removal is currently blocked on human rights grounds.