The Conservatives have warned that Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, is "almost certain" to lodge human rights claims to block any attempt to deport him from Britain. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the Pakistani-born 73-year-old is highly likely both to file and to win appeals under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which would undermine fresh efforts by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to change immigration law and remove him. The warning highlights the tension between government deportation ambitions and human rights protections, an issue the Tories are using to press their case for leaving the ECHR altogether.

Philp said Ahmed would likely rely on Article 8, the right to private and family life, and Article 3, which bars removal to a place where a person may face ill-treatment, arguing previous cases suggest such claims stand a good chance of success. Mahmood is said to be in the final stages of preparing legal amendments to bar Ahmed's removal, but also faces diplomatic obstacles, as Pakistan has indicated it will not accept him. Ahmed, who was jailed for 22 years in 2012 for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls, has previously turned to the ECHR, lodging a claim with the Strasbourg court in 2014 in which his lawyers argued the jury was biased, that all 12 jurors were white, and that his counsel had been barred from cross-examining some witnesses.