British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said the government would appeal to the UK’s top court after its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was deemed unlawful in a major blow to his pledge to stop asylum seekers arriving in small boats.
Under an initial 140 million pound ($177 million) deal struck last year, Britain planned to send tens of thousands of asylum seekers who arrive on its shores a distance of more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to the East African country.
The government argues the plan would smash the business model of human traffickers, but critics say the policy is inhumane and will not work. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal concluded by a majority of two to one that Rwanda could not be treated as a safe third country.
“While I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions,” Prime Minister Sunak said in a statement, adding the government would seek to overturn the decision in the UK Supreme Court.
“The policy of this government is very simple, it is this country – and your government – who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs,” he added. “And I will do whatever is necessary to make that happen.”
The ruling comes as a huge blow for Sunak, grappling with high inflation, rising interest rates and declining public support amid growing pressure from his party and the public to tackle rising numbers of asylum seekers costing 3 billion pounds a year to accommodate.
Prime Minister Sunak has made “stop the boats” one of his five top priorities, and hopes a fall in arrivals might help his Conservative Party, trailing by about 20 points in opinion polls, pull off an unexpected win at the next national election.
The first planned Rwanda deportation flight was blocked a year ago in a last-minute ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which imposed an injunction preventing any deportations until the conclusion of legal action in Britain.
In December, the High Court ruled the policy was lawful, but that decision was challenged by asylum seekers from several countries, such as Syria, Iraq and Iran, along with human rights organisations. —Reuters
