Patel faces threat of legal action on migrants
Campaigners have threatened the Home Secretary with legal action over her department's plans to turn migrant boats crossing the Channel back towards France.
Freedom from Torture, which supports asylum seekers and refugees fleeing persecution in their home country, has challenged Priti Patel over socalled pushbacks after it emerged she had sanctioned the tactic being used by Border Force at sea in an attempt to tackle the number of people making the journey.
The charity has written to Ms Patel asking her to withdraw the policy and confirm it will not be introduced. It said there was no legal basis for the plan and claimed it "authorises unlawful conduct by UK officials and is forbidden by the Refugee Convention".
The letter before claim represents the first step in any possible legal action. The Home Secretary has been given seven days to reply, after which the charity said if "no satisfactory response" is received then it will apply for permission to seek a judicial review.
Steve Crawshaw, the charity's director of policy and advocacy, warned that the policy will "likely lead to deaths in the Channel".
He said: "This government seems determined to blame everybody else in the world for the consequences of its own inhumane policies, instead of taking responsibility for its own refusal to provide safe routes.
"Asanorganisationworking with survivors of torture who have no choice but to travel this way, we are determined to challenge that policy because it is both morally and legally indefensible.”