Asylum seekers to challenge Rwanda policy

Two asylum seekers who entered the UK in the back of lorries this year and fear they will be the first to be removed to Rwanda have instructed lawyers to trigger a legal challenge to the policy. An Eritrean man who arrived in February and an Iranian who came in March fear they will be flown to the central African country because they have not received a response to their asylum claims from the Home Office. Their challenge is set to be the first legal test of the policy, which will put some migrants who arrived in the UK illegally on a one-way flight to Rwanda, where they will be offered the chance to apply for asylum. Both men are seeking anonymity during court proceedings. Instalaw, the law firm, was to issue judicial review proceedings today challenging the legality of the ‘‘world-first’’ immigration deal that Priti Patel, the home secretary, signed with Rwanda this month. The firm is planning to use the same argument as Gina Miller, the anti-Brexit campaigner, when she blocked former prime minister Theresa May from triggering Article 50, and therefore Brexit, without a parliamentary vote. Stuart Luke, a partner at the firm, will argue that ministers do not have the prerogative powers to agree an international deal without first seeking the approval of parliament. Patel signed the deal in Rwanda just hours after consulting the cabinet and without any legislation, debates or votes in parliament. The deal was enabled through secondary legislation that means anyone who arrived illegally via another ‘‘safe’’ country, such as France, would be judged ‘‘inadmissible’’ to the UK asylum system.