The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has ruled that the government’s asylum policy, which involves flying asylum seekers to Rwanda, is unlawful.
Gatekeepers News reports that the court upheld a Court of Appeal decision, stating that the policy exposes individuals sent to Rwanda to human rights breaches.
The controversial plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda and ban them from returning to the UK has been subject to legal challenges since it was first announced by Boris Johnson in April 2022.
The plan aimed to prevent those sent to Rwanda from returning to the UK. The ruling implies that the policy cannot be implemented in its current form.
The Supreme Court justices said there were “substantial grounds” to believe people deported to Rwanda could then be sent, by the Rwandan government, to places where they would be unsafe.
In a unanimous decision, the court’s five justices agreed with the Court of Appeal that there had not been a proper assessment of whether Rwanda was safe.
It said the Rwandan government had entered into the agreement in “good faith” but the evidence cast doubt on its “practical ability to fulfil its assurances, at least in the short term”, to fix “deficiencies” in its asylum system and see through “the scale of the changes in procedure, understanding and culture which are required”.
A spokesman for the Rwandan government said the policy’s legality was “ultimately a decision for the UK’s judicial system”, but added “we do take issue with the ruling that Rwanda is not a safe third country”.
The government has already spent £140m on the scheme but flights were prevented from taking off in June last year after the Court of Appeal ruled the approach was unlawful due to a lack of human rights safeguards.
The Supreme Court decision comes amid the sacking of Suella Braverman on Monday, who had championed the Rwanda policy when she was Home Secretary.
In a highly critical letter, published after her sacking and the day before the ruling, Braverman said the Prime Minister had “failed to prepare any sort of credible Plan B” in the event the Supreme Court halts the policy.
However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned that the government would work on a new treaty with Rwanda and expressed readiness to adjust UK laws.
In a statement issued after the ruling, the Sunak said the government had been “planning for all eventualities and we remain completely committed to stopping the boats”.
He continued: “Crucially, the Supreme Court – like the Court of Appeal and the High Court before it – has confirmed that the principle of sending illegal migrants to a safe third country for processing is lawful. This confirms the government’s clear view from the outset.”
The Supreme Court decision challenges the approach to addressing small boat arrivals. More than 100,000 people have arrived in the UK via illegal crossings since 2018, though the number appears to be falling this year.
In 2022, 45,000 people reached the UK in small boats. The total is on course to be lower for 2023, with the total for the year so far below 28,000 as of November 12.
