UK Allowed 77,000 People to Stay Under Human Rights Rule in 2025, Over Half of Family Approvals

The UK Home Office reported that 77,000 people were permitted to remain in the country in 2025 under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. These grants represented more than half of the 149,000 family-reason applications approved that year. GB News reported that 54 per cent of appeals against Home Office refusals succeeded on Article 8 grounds.

The same data showed 71 per cent of in-country family grants went to individuals who had entered the UK illegally or overstayed visas. Eighty-six per cent of people held in detention pending deportation were released after filing rights-based claims. The Home Office estimated the lifetime cost of 2025 Article 8 applicants at £4.9 billion.

Between 2015/16 and 2025/26, immigration judges allowed 64,000 human-rights appeals. Each case averaged 71 weeks to resolve at a lifetime cost of £141,000. GB News reported one case in which an Albanian national avoided deportation after his son refused to eat foreign chicken nuggets.

Another individual submitted seven claims over a decade and remained in the UK for two decades. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp stated that a future Conservative government would remove judges' powers to decide migrant deportation appeals. He said the Home Office would become the primary decision-making body to accelerate cases.

Kemi Badenoch called for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR to restore border control. The UK Government stated that reforms to the ECHR are required while it remains committed to the convention.