Thread by @0Calamity

1. Raab may be right to say that it's ridiculous for someone convicted of domestic violence to claim right to family life with his victim to stop his deportation. If (unlike Theresa May's cat story) this genuinely happened, you can bet your bottom dollar the courts rejected it.

2. But what Raab is seeking to do is take that right away from everyone - however sustainable their claim may be - on the basis of a few that might push their luck.

3. To put it in context: the right of appeal against a Deportation Order per se was taken away by this govt. in 2014. You can only appeal on the basis that it is either a breach of your Human Rights or a breach of the Refugee Convention.

4. The UK Borders Act 2007 effectively says anyone convicted of an offence who is sentenced to 12mths imprisonment or more will be automatically deported unless to do so would be a breach of their human rights or the Refugee Convention

5. RE human rights, the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 was amended in 2014, making the test very stringent: it has to be "unduly harsh" (not just "harsh") on the partner and children for the deportee to be either removed without them, or for them all to go together.

6. It is rare that the Tribunals find that it is "unduly harsh" - usually if they do it is because there are children involved who will suffer grim consequences. Raab and Patel know this.

7. So why focus on deportations to justify scrapping the HRA? Because it's a massive dog-whistle to every Little England racist who believes human rights are only for "foreign criminals" (thanks to our gutter press for helping with that 🙄)

8. In fact, human rights legislation protects us all. The HRA was introduced to "bring home" the European Convention on Human Rights - a Convention heavily supported by Churchill, to prevent states committing the kinds of horrors we saw in Germany in WW2

9. The HRA simply imposes a duty on govt not to breach, or interfere with your human rights in a disproportionate way. It also allows senior judges to declare a particular law incompatible with the ECHR (though not the power to strike laws out)

10. By constantly using "foreign bogie man" examples, the Tories blow a massive racist dogwhistle to convince people what they plan will only affect "them" and never you or your loved ones. Be very careful what you wish for.