The Attorney General has drawn comparisons between calls for the UK to disregard international court rulings and the actions of Nazi Germany.
Speaking in London on Thursday, Lord Richard Hermer KC criticised the notion that the UK could breach international obligations, branding it a “radical departure from the UK’s constitutional tradition”.
In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) thinktank, Lord Hermer highlighted the historical context of dismissing international law, noting that similar arguments were made in Germany during the early 1930s. He said that the claims that international law can be “put aside” were made in the early 1930s in Germany.
Lord Hermer voiced concerns over what he sees as a growing sentiment within the UK, including within the Palace of Westminster, to abandon international legal constraints in favour of “raw power”.
He cautioned against this approach, stating: “This is not a new song.”
“The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by ‘realist’ jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law.”
Lord Hermer also said that because of what happened “in 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law”. That is the year that Adolf Hitler became German chancellor.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has stopped short of calling for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as other Conservative figures have advocated.
However, she suggested the UK would have to leave the convention if it stops the country from doing “what is right”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he would get rid of the ECHR, and told ITV in April that “we have to get back the ability to decide, can we really control our borders”.
In his same speech to Rusi on Thursday, the Attorney General said “we must not stagnate in our approach to international rules” and that officials should “look to apply and adapt existing obligations to address new situations”.
“We must be ready to reform where necessary,” he added.
