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London: Rishi Sunak has announced an “emergency” law to overcome the British Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that his plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful.

At a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister vowed to strike a new treaty with the east African country and pass “extraordinary” legislation declaring it was “safe” for refugees.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak holds a press conference, following the Supreme Court’s Rwanda policy judgement, at Downing Street in London.Credit: Getty

Downing Street argued the new treaty and law would address the court’s concerns by making clear no asylum seeker deported to Rwanda would then be sent to their home country.

In a threat to European Court of Human Rights judges, who previously grounded deportation flights to the nation, Sunak said: “I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights.”

Sunak said he wanted Rwanda flights to take off next northern spring but failed three times to guarantee it would happen before the general election, which is expected next year. He has pledged to “stop the boats” in an echo of the Australian policy.

An inflatable craft carrying migrants crosses the English Channel last year. More than 27,300 migrants have crossed the Channel this year, with the 2023 total on track to be fewer than the 46,000 who made the journey in 2022. Credit: Getty

Tory critics urged Sunak to go further, calling for the new law to allow the government to ignore rulings linked to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Refugee Convention.

One Tory MP branded it “last chance saloon”.

The Supreme Court’s five judges ruled that the government’s flagship small boats policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing was unlawful.

Lord Reed, the Supreme Court president, agreed there were substantial grounds to believe there was a “real risk” of refugees being deported from Rwanda to their countries of origin, where they could face “ill treatment”.

Sunak used a press conference to say he respected the court’s decision, while unveiling his Plan B for how to revive the deportation flights policy, which he said would “end the merry-go-round”.

He said a new treaty with Rwanda, which government officials have been working on for weeks, would be struck to clarify that asylum seekers sent there from the UK would not then be sent home.

He then outlined emergency laws that would “enable parliament to confirm that, with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe”.

“It will ensure that people cannot further delay flights by bringing systemic challenges in our domestic courts and stop our policy being repeatedly blocked,” he added.

No 10 believes both the treaty and the new law, which they hope to pass before the spring, will meet the Supreme Court’s concerns and mean the policy is deemed lawful.

Sunak went on to address fears that the European Court in Strasbourg, which rules on the ECHR, could step in to block flights even after the new law passes.

In June 2022, the European Court intervened to block Rwanda flights from taking off on the grounds it could breach the ECHR. A lengthy battle over the policy’s legality then followed.

“Let me tell everyone now – I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights,” Sunak said.

“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.”

It was a clear warning that if a new UK law declares Rwanda a safe country, he could ignore demands from the European Court to ground deportation flights.

The ruling triggered warnings from Tory MPs of a “confidence issue” in Sunak’s leadership”.

Simon Clarke, the Tory MP and former communities secretary, said the ruling presented “a confidence issue in his judgment as prime minister and as leader of the Conservative Party”.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a former education minister who submitted a letter of no confidence in Sunak following Monday’s cabinet reshuffle, claimed that six colleagues were preparing to follow her.

The architect of the Rwanda solution, Suella Braverman, demanded that the government introduce emergency legislation that “blocks off” a legal challenge to deliver the policy. Braverman was sacked as home secretary on Monday. She’s previously described migrants as a “hurricane” headed for Britain.

A day after accusing Sunak of betraying the nation over his failure to tackle the small boats crisis, she posted 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.”

While many later welcomed his plans, he still faced calls from Tory MPs to go further – including from Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates, Tory MPs and co-chairmen of the Right-leaning New Conservatives grouping.

Their joint statement said: “Glad the prime minister is bringing forward emergency legislation. But it will need more than a declaration that Rwanda is safe.

“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.”

“The bill must disapply the Human Rights Act and give effect to the policy notwithstanding the ECHR and Refugee Convention. It must restate the power of government to disregard interim rulings from Strasbourg.”

Writing in The Telegraph, Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, said: “Claims of a quick solution are sometimes easier said than done, but will have my support in being pursued.”

Clarke said: “This was a welcome statement from the PM but we are in the last chance saloon here.

“The emergency legislation being prepared must be so robust, specific and unambiguous – ideally written in terms of ‘notwithstanding’ the conventions relied upon in today’s ruling – that it cannot succumb to judicial intervention.”

A Downing Street source countered the calls by arguing such moves would leave the government open to even more legal challenges.

The Telegraph, London

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