The reputation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has "fallen dramatically in recent times", British Justice Secretary Chris Grayling says, as he insisted Britain would not be coerced into rewriting the rules of whole-life sentences.
Grayling said the need for the court to change was now urgent, and that he had the support of Prime Minister David Cameron that Strasbourg was taking them down the wrong path.
Addressing a question by Conservative MP Henry Bellingham, he said: "I think you echo the views of many of the people in this country that the whole-life tariffs ruling is entirely inappropriate.
"The government is now considering how best to respond to it. But it is an example of why, in my view, the reputation of this court has fallen dramatically in recent times. And why a change is now so urgently necessary."
Bellingham had asked: "Do you agree with me that it's really quite outrageous the ECHR has deemed whole-life sentences to be in breach of human rights laws?
"Are you aware that I used to be a very strong supporter of this court, but I now feel very strongly indeed that the time has come that it's in our national interest to actually come out of it?"
But opposition Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn urged the Justice Secretary to think again, suggesting that he would be approving a dangerous precedent for human rights legislation at home.
Corbyn said: "If Britain was to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, and by consequence the European Court, where will our moral stature be in condemning human rights abuses in any other European countries and what would be the future for human rights in this country?
"Do you not think instead that you should be more positive and proactive about the necessity of human rights legislation to protect us all?"
The minister replied that "we can be and will continue to be a beacon of propriety as regards human rights in this world, but it does not mean that we have to continue to accept a jurisprudence that, in my view, is now treading into the territory that rightly belongs to this parliament."
