Reform councillor Laila Cunningham has furiously slapped down a Labour MP over leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), insisting that “Labour’s got it wrong”.

The Westminster councillor railed against Barry Gardiner on the Dewbs & Co Show, incredulously lambasting the way in which Labour has refused to withdraw from the governing document.

“We are a proud nation that fought for our freedoms and now we’re begging foreign courts for protection,” Ms Cunningham said.

“The ECHR was written 75 years ago in post-war Europe. And it was to protect against tyranny. It’s outdated, it’s abused, and it ties our hands.”

With those demanding to withdraw from the ECHR being hit with criticism over the possible threat to human rights, the Reform councillor insisted that the move “doesn’t mean leaving human rights”.

“In fact, it means taking back control of them. It means defining them right here,” she told GB News adamantly.

She added that the “one thing Labour doesn’t understand” is the matter of “standing up for your own people” – declaring that is something Sir Keir Starmer’s party “needs to learn”.

Diving into the debate, Mr Gardiner said that “most of the rights which are enshrined in the ECHR are rights that we need, and that any political party would say are an important part of British society.”

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But Ms Cunningham was quick to interrupt, pointing out that “we found the Magna Carta, trial by jury and common law”, exclaiming: “We had liberty long before Strasbourg existed!”

Retaliating, Mr Gardiner slapped back, saying: “Churchill was the person who actually put this in place. It wasn’t Strasbourg that put this in place.

“The point is, we set out these rights. We were part of the foundation of these rights.”

The debating duo locked horns over the very point of the document in the first place, with Mr Gardiner saying that the 1951 convention was borne in response to the chaos in Europe and Nazi Germany.

Firing back, Ms Cunningham said that the decision to join the ECHR “never intended to stop democratic nations from removing illegal migrants and not defending their borders” but “that’s what is being used for now”.

She added: “Why doesn’t Labour have the guts to say no? We are going to do what it takes to stop at the borders

“You keep bringing out these useless laws to curb our freedoms but you won’t do the basic necessity of removing us from the ECHR.”

Meanwhile, the Tories have recently diverged with Reform UK policy, concurring that Britain must leave the ECHR, pushing Labour to do the same.