Rwanda scheme set to get lawmakers’ approval but more legal challenges await
The British parliament is set to finally approve a divisive law this week to pave the way for asylum seekers to be deported to Rwanda, but further legal hurdles could yet hold up or derail one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s key policies.
Sunak has invested huge political capital in the Rwanda scheme whose success or failure may be crucial to his Conservative Party’s fortunes in a coming election, given his promise it will stop tens of thousands of people arriving without permission in small boats across the Channel.
The new legislation is poised to get lawmakers’ approval, unamended, by the end of the week. But whether the Rwanda scheme does finally get off the ground by the middle of the year remains far from certain.
“In our view, the legislation is utterly performative,” said Paul O’Connell from the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union which has previously brought lawsuits over the policy and is preparing further action.
“We think the government knows it hasn’t got a cat in hell’s chance of surviving a legal challenge, but they just want to keep it alive as an issue to fight in the general election.”
Under the policy formulated two years ago, asylum seekers who arrive illegally in Britain will be sent to the East African nation, to deter dangerous cross-channel crossings and smash the people smugglers’ business model.
The first planned deportation flight in June 2022 was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, before the UK Supreme Court last year declared the scheme unlawful.
Sunak’s new law, which disapplies some existing human rights statutes, is designed to override the Supreme Court’s ruling by stating Rwanda must be treated by British judges as a safe destination, as well as also limiting individuals’ options for an appeal to only exceptional cases.
To critics the policy is immoral, unworkable and probably breaches international law. But, some right-wing Conservative lawmakers say it will not work as it is still not tough enough.
After months of parliamentary battles, the government is likely to finally win backing from the House of Commons and House of Lords.
How long until deportation flights then leave is unclear, and one government official said it would probably take at least a month from the moment when the legislation is passed.
Charities and human rights groups say they are gearing up to bring challenges on behalf of individuals, although as yet none have been specifically told they would be sent to Rwanda.
O’Connell said his union, which represents border force staff who would help carry out the deportations, would submit a legal challenge arguing the new legislation was unlawful “within days” of the first asylum seekers being informed they would be deported.