Immigration judges are going too far in their interpretations of human rights laws, Yvette Cooper has admitted.

The Home Secretary – who is carrying out a review into Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – said “too much has been left to ad-hoc decisions by the courts”.

Ms Cooper conceded she believes "it is possible to change the way" in which rules around the right to a family life are being interpreted.

The comments come amid fears new plans to ban foreign sex offenders from claiming asylum will fail because the criminals can still fight to stay in the UK using the ECHR.

Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “We do have concerns about some of the individual cases where, as a Government, we’ve obviously disagreed strongly with the conclusions that the courts have come to.

“But there’s a wider challenge here, I think, which is that for too many years, the decisions have been based on a sort of growing ad hoc decisions through the courts driving the way in which the law is interpreted, rather than having a clear framework through Parliament. So we do think it is possible to have a stronger framework that is set out around the way in which international law should be interpreted.”

The Home Secretary pointed to a Government review under way which is "looking at the way in which article 8 (of the European Convention on Human Rights) has been operating in the courts".

Asked whether she has confidence whether that will change how the ECHR works in this country, Ms Cooper told Times Radio: "I do believe it is possible to change the way in which article 8 is being interpreted.

"Because in practice, what's happening is it's partly about the way in which our laws are operating, it's about the way in which, I think that there's been a bit of an abdication of responsibility to set down the way in which our laws should operate, and too much has been left to ad-hoc decisions by the courts.

"But look that review is under way at the moment, we will bring forward the conclusions."

Ms Cooper admitted foreign sex offenders could still use European human rights laws to escape deportation.

Asked whether sex offenders could be stopped from using the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to appeal against their removal, the Home Secretary told Times Radio: "Of course, there are often other obstacles that are put in the way of different kinds of returns and removals, but that's why we're working so hard to seek to remove those.

"But the first step is to remove somebody's entitlement to asylum protection in the first place if they have committed these serious crimes."

The Home Office will bar overseas nationals put on the sex offenders’ register after committing an offence in the UK from being granted refugee status. It follows the scandal of Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi being granted asylum despite receiving a suspended sentence in 2018 for sexual assault and exposure.

He went on to throw alkaline into the face of his ex-partner and her two children, leading to a nationwide manhunt before his body was found in the River Thames.

Home Office insiders believe their decision to include all sex offences in the legal changes could lead to immigration judges concluding that perverts sentenced to less than 12 months behind bars should be deported because they are not “conducive to the public good”.

The UK previously only treated an offence which led to a sentence of more than 12 months as a “particularly serious crime”.

Former Government advisor Rajiv Shah warned: “This sounds great but will be totally ineffective. Under Article 3 of the ECHR they cannot be deported even if the Refugee Convention says they could.

“Edward Leigh tabled an amendment to the Borders Bill to seek to give primacy to the Refugee Convention but Home Office ministers rejected it because they love the ECHR.

“Unfortunately Nick Robinson only asked Yvette Cooper about the interaction with Article 8 (right to family life) but the real issue is Article 3 and how it has been interpreted as being absolute even in cases where the Refugee Convention says criminals can be deported.”