The Home Office will today launch an appeal after a court ruled its policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful.
The government wants to send tens of thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away to Rwanda as part of a £120m deal agreed with the government in Kigali last year.
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The policy was introduced under Boris Johnson, but has been pushed forward by his successors as part of their plans to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel.
However, critics have claimed the policy breaks international human rights laws, and no one has been sent to the country yet after ongoing legal challenges in the courts.
Last week, three judges overturned a High Court ruling that previously said the east African nation could be considered a “safe third country” for migrants to be sent to.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he “fundamentally disagreed” with the decision, while Home Secretary Suella Braverman called it “madness”.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson confirmed the government would be submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court today to meet the court’s deadline and to try and reverse the ruling.
It comes as the government continues to battle with peers over its Illegal Immigration Bill, which includes detaining people who arrive on small boats and “swiftly” removing them to either a third country, like Rwanda, or their home country.
The legislation is due to return to the Commons next week after facing an eye-watering 20 defeats on various aspects when it was scrutinised in the House of Lords.
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Court of Appeal rules government plan is unlawful
Revisions put forward by the peers include introducing the right of appeal against age assessments for migrants claiming to be children, putting a legal duty on ministers to create safe and legal routes to the UK for refugees, and bolstering enforcement against people smugglers.
Mr Sunak’s spokesperson said the Lords had the right to scrutinise the policy, but ministers “continue to believe that this bill is the right and appropriate way to stop the boats”.
They added: “We have recognised that we would face a challenge from all sides, and I think that has been borne out. But we are not deterred by this.
“The government continues to believe that this is a problem that the public want us to urgently fix and we continue to use all the tools at our disposal to do so.”
