The UK Supreme Court has ruled that plans by the Tory government to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda is illegal. The decision will actually save the government money as the cost of removal and the proposed bribe to Rwanda would cost more. The decision was reached on the basis that similar assurances of proper treatment of asylum seekers with Israel between 2015 and 2018 had resulted in abuses and “refoulement” i.e. sending back to the country they had fled.
The unanimous decision by the Justices was delivered by Lord Reed and concluded in the decision
For the reasons we have explained in our discussion of Issues 2 and 3, at paras 42-105 above, we conclude that the Court of Appeal was correct to reverse the decision of the Divisional Court, and was entitled to find that there are substantial grounds for believing that the removal of the claimants to Rwanda would expose them to a real risk of ill-treatment by reason of refoulement. It was accordingly correct to hold that the Secretary of State’s policy is unlawful. The Secretary of State’s appeal is therefore dismissed. For the reasons explained in our discussion of Issue 4, at paras 107-148 above, the cross-appeal by ASM is also dismissed.
This ends a disgraceful attempt by the Tory government to appease their racist supporters. The details of the decision also make it clear that the ruling had nothing to do with the European Convention on Human Rights as many Tory Brexiteers have presented, confusing the ECHR and the European Court of Human Rights with the European Union.
This is a serious blow to the government. Its flagship policy to "stop the boats" - one of Rishi Sunak's five pledges for2023 - has been struck down.
And the prime minister will now have to make a rapid decision about how to proceed.
And what timing, coming just two days after Suella Braverman was sacked as home secretary, and less than 24 hours after Braverman publicly lambasted Sunak’s approach to illegal immigration.
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