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Labour's new migrant pact with Europe is a "red herring" that will leave foreign judges able to interfere in British politics and block deportations, Zia Yusuf has declared.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, alongside her continental counterparts, agreed changes to the way human rights laws are interpreted to potentially make it easier to boot out criminals and illegal immigrants.

It included new interpretations of two clauses of the European Convention on Human Rights regularly used by lawyers to convince judges to block deportations of foreign crooks, failed asylum seekers and immigration offenders.

But Reform's Zia Yusuf told the Daily Express it "changes absolutely nothing", adding Britain "remains shackled to the ECHR" as the deal is "non-binding".

Reform's home affairs spokesman said: "This declaration is yet another red herring from a government desperately trying to fool the public into believing it is taking action, while presiding over eye-watering illegal immigration at enormous cost to British taxpayers.

"The non-binding agreement changes absolutely nothing while Britain remains shackled to the ECHR and the interference of foreign judges.

"Only Reform UK will leave the ECHR, disapply every foreign treaty that blocks deportations, and detain and deport every single illegal immigrant."

The new agreement states migrants should not be able to dodge deportation by claiming healthcare or prison facilities are worse in their own countries.

The Chiinu Declaration added: "There is no obligation for the returning State to alleviate the disparities between its own healthcare system and the level of treatment existing in the receiving State."

And it said that the ECHR must allow nation states to deport criminals and illegal migrants even if they have established a family in the country.

Judges must also consider the public interest, including the "economic wellbeing of the country" and the duty of the state to prevent crime, when considering Article 8 - the right to a family life - claim. National governments are better placed than an international court to assess this balance, the document said.

A group of nations - including the UK, Italy and Denmark - were concerned judges were interpreting human rights laws too expansively.

The Daily Express has backed calls to quit the ECHR to ensure Britain can boot out foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers and immigration offenders.

The diktat signed by European ministers said countries should be allowed to pursue new approaches "such as return hubs to address and potentially deter irregular migration".

Labour Foreign Secretary Ms Cooper agreed the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) "acts as a safeguard for individuals whose rights and freedoms are not secured at the national level".

Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "This will make no difference whatsoever.

"We've seen this before with the so-called Brighton Declaration over a decade ago and even domestic UK laws that tried to specify how the ECHR should be interpreted.

"But we found that democratically elected politicians can say what they like - judges in Strasbourg and the UK will just keep applying their own increasingly insane definitions of the vaguely-worded ECHR articles - which have stopped European countries from controlling their borders.

"The only way to fix this is to leave the ECHR entirely. The Conservatives are the only party in the UK with a proper plan to do that.

"But Labour is too weak and divided to do that."

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset said: "We have been able to bring together countries across Europe, with different views and experiences, to agree a common position on how the system should work best, notably in the challenging context of migration.

"Looking ahead, this will help to guide our own work as well as that of national authorities and domestic courts."

More than 200,000 migrants are thought to have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since 2018.

Successive governments have tried to work with France to disrupt crossings, as well as revising the rules for claiming asylum in the UK in attempts to deter people from making the dangerous journey.