Shabana Mahmood today called for major reform to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to stop it blocking the deportation of foreign criminals.
Killers, drug dealers and radical clerics are among those who have managed to resist being kicked out of the country by citing the treaty, which is embedded in UK law in the Human Rights Act.
While critics have repeatedly called for Britain to leave the ECHR, Ms Mahmood used a speech to the Council of Europe - which is responsible for the agreement - to argue that it needs to 'evolve' to make it 'in step with common sense'.
'If a foreign national commits a serious crime, they should expect to be removed from the country,' she told the Council of Europe's committee of ministers in Strasbourg.
'The European convention on human rights is one of the great achievements of postwar politics. It has endured because it has evolved. Now, it must do so again.'
