UK government’s Rwandan asylum policy declared illegal

LONDON: In a major blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plan to send migrants to Rwanda as unlawful because it would put them at risk.
Issuing a unanimous decision, the country’s highest court said the policy would put asylum seekers at “risk of ill-treatment” as they could be deported back to their home countries after landing in Rwanda.

Sunak, who has vowed to stop migrants arriving in Britain in small boats across the English Channel, said the decision was “not the outcome we wanted”.
“We have seen today’s decision and will now consider the next steps. This was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent time over the past few months planning for all scenarios and we are fully committed to stopping the boats,” he said in a statement.

However, the Prime Minister said his “commitment to stopping the boats remains unwavering”.

“The government is working on a new treaty with Rwanda, and we will finalize it in the light of today’s decision. If necessary, I am prepared to revisit our domestic legal framework,” Sunak wrote on Wednesday.

The development comes as sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused Sunak in a scathing letter of betraying his pledge to do “whatever it takes” to stop small boats crossing the Channel.

Braverman said the PM has no “Plan B” if the government loses the Supreme Court case.

Since Brexit, net immigration has been steadily increasing, hitting a record of 606,000 in 2022.

Last year a record 45,775 people were found in small boats in Britain without permission. So far this year, more than 27,000 people have come this way.

Launched by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April 2022, the Rwanda plan aims to discourage asylum seekers from making the dangerous journey of about 20 miles across the Channel from Europe to the southern beaches of England in small boats or inflatable boats .

Under the plan, anyone who arrived in Britain illegally after January 1 last year would face deportation to Rwanda.

The first deportation flight to June 2022 was blocked, following a last-minute injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

According to media reports, Britain is currently spending more than three billion pounds a year on dealing with asylum applications, and the cost of housing migrants as their claims are processed is around £6 million per day.