The Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s flagship deportations plan is unlawful in a verdict delivered this morning.
Giving the court’s verdict, Lord Reed pointed out that the Supreme Court is “required to decide” on the “legal question” of whether the scheme is lawful or unlawful.
He stressed that the court is “not concerned with the political debate” about the scheme.
Explaining his judgement, Lord Reed said: “There is a legal rule that refugees must not be returned to their country of origin if their lives would be threatened in that country.”
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“As to the legal test which the court has to apply – the test is whether there are substantial grounds for believing that asylum seekers who are sent to Rwanda will be at real risk of ill treatment as a consequence of reform”, he added.
“And if there are no such grounds, the policy is lawful, if there are such grounds, the policy is unlawful.”
Lord Reed noted Rwanda’s failure to fulfil its responsibilities with Israel under an agreement, like that to the one being proposed by the UK, on the removal of asylum seekers in 2013-18.
“Despite the terms of the agreement… asylum seekers were frequently moved to another country from which they were likely to be refouled”, he said.
The ruling comes at a moment of jeopardy for Sunak, who is facing a revolt from right-wing Conservative MPs after the sacking of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Ahead of the ruling, Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We are already seeing a rise in distress, anxiety and wider mental health issues as a consequence of concerns among those we work with that they could be sent to Rwanda.
“Instead of outsourcing our international commitment to provide safe haven to those fleeing for their lives – including people from Afghanistan and Sudan – we should be focusing on operating an orderly, humane and fair asylum system.”
More on this story to come…
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