Labour's law chief has been branded “out of touch” after mounting a passionate defence of the European human rights system. Attorney general Lord Hermer said the UK should use the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to “celebrate” what it does.

Sir Keir Starmer’s friend and close ally said Britain should take “national pride” in having played a central role in setting it up under the leadership of Sir Winston Churchill. Opposition critics, including Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and some Tories, want the UK to withdraw from the system, arguing it prevents ministers from expelling migrants. Ministers are reviewing how Article 8 of the ECHR – the right to family life – applies to migration law.

Lord Hermer said it was right to carry out the review but hit out at “disinformation” about a specific case in which it was reported that an Albanian man was able to remain partly because of his young son’s aversion to foreign chicken nuggets.

He warned that if the UK quits the ECHR, there is no hope of achieving deals with foreign countries to take back migrants.

Appearing in front of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, he told peers and MPs: “On this 75th anniversary of the creation of the convention … this is a moment to celebrate it.

“It is also a moment to reflect on it, to reflect upon the nature of the values that are contained in the convention, which I think are as relevant today as they were at the time when it was formed.

“It is also a point of national pride. The Council of Europe was created under the leadership of Winston Churchill, and many of the provisions were drafted by British lawyers, not least [later Tory home secretary] David Maxwell Fyfe.

“Although the convention reflects universal values, they are a reflection of great, longstanding British values enshrined in our common law.”

The Attorney General said the Home Secretary was right to conduct a review into how Article 8 is applied to migration cases.

He said there have been a number of decisions reported at immigration tribunals on the basis of Article 8 that are “capable of suggesting that it is not being applied properly or appropriately”.

Reform’s Lee Anderson hit out at the remarks, saying: “Lord Hermer needs to get out into the real world and speak to real people who could not give a toss about the ECHR.

“I’ll happily take him around Ashfield to discuss the ‘merits’ of being in the ECHR. This out-of-touch politician is exactly what is wrong with this country.”

Lord Hermer also told the committee: “There is clearly a lot of information, misinformation, that is being whipped up in the context of asylum and immigration in particular, Article 8.

“Many of you will have heard banded around the idea that the courts have allowed a foreign national offender to stay here because his child will miss Chicken McNuggets.

“That is doing the rounds. What is not doing the rounds is that that case went to the Upper Tribunal, who categorically rejected that as an Article 8 argument. They rejected the claim.

“Courts are always going to make mistakes. That’s why we have appeal courts, and that’s what’s happened here.”