Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Sunak to revive Rwanda asylum plan after court setback

The prime minister said he was working on a new treaty with Rwanda that would address the points made by the court

Sunak to revive Rwanda asylum plan after court setback

Despite a significant setback in the country’s highest court, prime minister Rishi Sunak is attempting to revive his flagship immigration policy. However, legal experts express doubts about its ability to surmount the existing legal hurdles.

The UK Supreme Court on Wednesday (15) ruled the government's scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful, leading members of parliament in Sunak's Conservative Party to demand he finds a way to enact one of his government's centrepiece pledges.


Sunak said he was working on a new treaty with Rwanda that would address the points made by the court, would pass an emergency law to designate Rwanda a safe country, and was "prepared to do what is necessary" to stop any foreign court blocking deportation flights.

But whether his actions will be enough to satisfy the courts, or restless members on the right of his party, some of whom have warned of a leadership challenge, remain to be seen.

"The prime minister was right to say we have to do 'whatever it takes' - but it's now clear that what it will 'take' is more than a reheat of this, or a new treaty with Rwanda," said Conservative lawmaker Neil O'Brien.

"We tried the cautious approach and that was reasonable - but we now know for sure - tinkering won't work."

In their ruling, the judges said Rwanda had to make "significant changes" before it could be considered a safe third country for migrants, highlighting judicial failings as well as its record of compliance with other international treaties.

James Cleverly, Britain's new interior minister, said the Rwanda deal would be upgraded to a legally-binding treaty from a memorandum of understanding, and ensure that anyone removed to Rwanda could not be sent to another country apart from Britain.

"You would have to have Rwanda promising to fix all these things, but even that on its own I am not sure, reading the judgment, would be enough to make it safe," Gavin Phillipson, professor of law at the University of Bristol, told Reuters.

Alan Greene, a reader in Constitutional Law and Human Rights at Birmingham Law School, said it was not clear how a new treaty would solve the concerns raised by the Supreme Court about Britain's adherence to international obligations.

Dead and Buried

Legal experts said the emergency law could address domestic issues, but those facing deportation would still be able to seek remedy in the European Court of Human Rights.

The Bar Council, which represents barristers, said it had "grave concern" about the prospect of parliament passing legislation intended to deem Rwanda a safe country and therefore upend the Supreme Court's finding.

"That would raise profound and important questions about the respective role of the courts and parliament in countries that subscribe to the Rule of Law," Bar Council Chair Nick Vineall said.

With those on the right wing of the Conservative Party vociferously advocating abandoning the European rights' convention and other international treaties, Sunak said he would not accept a foreign court blocking flights.

"We need to end the merry-go-round," Sunak told a press conference in Downing Street, saying he thought deportation planes to Rwanda could start flying by the spring of next year.

However, Phillipson and others said the emergency law on which he was relying was likely to be held up by parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords, for a year, and no flights were likely before the next election - which must be held by January 2025 at the latest, with the opposition Labour Party currently far ahead in opinion polls.

That meant Sunak needed to go further and faster, right-wing critics in his party said.

"We have no time left. This bill - which must come to parliament within weeks - must have everything in it to ensure that flights are in the air within months," a statement from the chairs of the New Conservatives group of lawmakers said.

However, another Conservative politician in the moderate wing of the faction-ridden party was pessimistic about the plan's future. "I think the policy is dead and buried," he said.

(Reuters)

More For You

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

FILE PHOTO: Keir Starmer (L) with Narendra Modi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the UK by the end of this month for a visit that could see both sides formally sign the landmark India-UK free trade agreement and explore ways to expand bilateral ties in the defence and security sphere, diplomatic sources said.

Both sides are in the process of finalising the dates for Modi's visit to the country by the end of July or the first part of August, they said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

Rishi Sunak. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

FORMER prime minister Rishi Sunak has returned to the banking world as senior adviser at Goldman Sachs group, with plans to donate his salary to the education charity he recently established with his wife Akshata Murty.

The US-headquartered multinational investment bank, where Sunak worked before entering politics, made the announcement on Tuesday (8) after the requisite 12-month period elapsed since the British Indian leader's ministerial term concluded following defeat in the general election on July 4 last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London.

Getty Images

Post Office scandal linked to 13 suicides, says inquiry

Highlights:

 
     
  • Public inquiry finds up to 13 suicides linked to wrongful Post Office prosecutions.
  •  
  • Horizon IT system faults led to false accusations, financial ruin, and imprisonment.
  •  
  • Sir Wyn Williams says Post Office maintained a “fiction” of accurate data despite known faults.

A PUBLIC inquiry has found that up to 13 people may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of financial misconduct by the Post Office, in what is now described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK ramps up drought response following driest spring

The EA has begun conducting more compliance checks on high-usage industries

Getty Images

UK ramps up drought response following driest spring since 1893

Key points

  • Spring 2025 was England’s driest and warmest in over 130 years
  • Reservoirs across England only 77% full, compared to 93% average
  • Environment Agency increases monitoring and drought planning
  • North-west England officially declared in drought

Water conservation measures stepped up ahead of summer

The UK government has increased efforts to manage water resources after confirming that England experienced its driest and warmest spring since 1893. The Environment Agency (EA) reported that reservoirs were on average only 77% full, significantly lower than the usual 93% for this time of year.

The announcement came after a National Drought Group meeting on Thursday, which reviewed the impact of continued dry weather on crops, canal navigation, and river flows. Poor grass growth and dry soil conditions were noted as threats to food production and livestock feed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Norman Tebbit

Following Thatcher’s third general election victory in 1987, Tebbit stepped back from frontline politics to care for his wife. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Former minister, Thatcher ally Norman Tebbit dies at 94

Norman Tebbit, a close ally of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and a former Conservative Party cabinet minister, has died at the age of 94. His son William confirmed the news on Tuesday.

"At 11:15 pm on 7th July, 2025, Lord Tebbit died peacefully at home aged 94," William Tebbit said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less