Rishi Sunak has promised emergency legislation and a new treaty with Rwanda to ensure his flagship asylum policy is not blocked again after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful.
The Prime Minister said he will end the “merry-go-round” of legal challenges with a law to deem the east African nation a safe country after his plans to “stop the boats” were blocked.
He was resisting pressure from the Tory right to pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) but vowed: “I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights.”
The UK’s highest court rejected the Government’s appeal over its policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrive by unauthorised means.
The five senior justices unanimously ruled that the plans are unlawful because there is a risk genuine asylum seekers could be forced back to their country of origin by Kigali.
Sacked home secretary Suella Braverman demanded that Mr Sunak brings in laws to block off the ECHR, Human Rights Act and other routes of legal challenge.
Mr Sunak pinned his hopes firstly on brokering a new treaty with Kigali that will provide a legal guarantee that asylum seekers will not be removed from Rwanda.
Speaking in front of a “stop the boats” podium at a Downing Street press conference, he said he disagrees with the Supreme Court ruling that has jeopardised his promise to halt small boat crossings.
“But we need to end the merry-go-round,” he said. “So I’m also announcing today that we will take the extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation.
“This will enable Parliament to confirm that with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe.”
