The UK Prime Minister has announced an “emergency” law to overturn a unanimous Supreme Court ruling.
The British Supreme Court ruled that the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. Sunak has promised to forge a new deal with the East African country and pass an “emergency” law declaring its safety for refugees.
I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights.
Sunak claimed he hoped to launch flights to Rwanda next spring, but he has three times failed to guarantee this will happen before the general election anticipated next year.
Conservative critics have called on Sunak to pass a new law that would allow the government to ignore rulings related to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Refugee Convention.
Five Supreme Court judges ruled that the government’s basic policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing was unlawful. Lord Reed, the Chief Justice, recognised substantial grounds for believing that there was a “real risk” that refugees from Rwanda would be deported to their countries of origin where they might face “ill treatment.”
At the press conference, Sunak stated that he respected the court’s ruling while unveiling his Plan B on how to revive the deportation flight policy, which he said would “end the merry-go-round.”
“It will ensure that people cannot further delay flights by bringing systemic challenges in our domestic courts and stop our policy being repeatedly blocked.”
Sunak also raised concerns that the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg, which rules on the European Convention on Human Rights, could intervene and block flights even after the new law is passed.
In June 2022, the European Court of Justice intervened and blocked the departure of flights to Rwanda on the grounds that it might violate the ECHR.
If the Strasbourg court chooses to intervene against the express wishes of parliament, I am prepared to do what is necessary to get flights off. I will not take the easy way out.
The decision prompted warnings from Conservative MPs of a “confidence issue” in the Sunac leadership. Simon Clarke, the Tory MP and former community’s secretary, claimed the decision represented “a confidence issue in his judgement as prime minister and as leader of the Conservative Party.”
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the former education minister who submitted a letter of no confidence in Sunak following Monday’s cabinet reshuffle, claimed six colleagues are preparing to follow in her steps.
Suella Braverman demanded the government pass emergency legislation that would “block” legal obstacles to the implementation of the Rwanda policy. She was sacked as home secretary on Monday.
A day after Sunak was accused of betraying the nation over his failure to deal with the small courts’ crisis, she wrote on X, formerly Twitter:
“Those who – like me – believe that effective immigration control is vital must understand that they cannot have their cake and eat it: there is no chance of curbing illegal migration within the current legal framework. We must legislate or admit defeat.”
Although many later welcomed his plans, Sunak still faced calls from Conservative MPs to push ahead, including from Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, Tory MPs and co-chairmen of the right-leaning New Conservatives grouping.
We can’t wait for ECHR to intervene: we must move now to ensure that this time, finally, there is simply no opportunity for rights-based claims against deportation.
Clarke noted that the pending emergency legislation should be “so robust, specific and unambiguous,” that it would be immune to judicial interference. The administration has refuted those calls, saying such moves would leave the government open to more legal challenges.
