Migrant law may let courts ignore human rights appeals

Ministers consider plans to block interventions by European Court over deportation of new arrivals

BRITISH courts could be given powers to ignore European human rights rulings in the Government’s new immigration Bill, under plans being considered by ministers.

The new Bill, to be unveiled within weeks, is expected to place a legal duty on the Home Secretary to deport migrants who arrive illegally or enter the UK indirectly through a safe third country without permission.

However, ministers are concerned that removals could be hampered by rulings from Strasbourg.

One option to avoid this, which is under consideration, is including what are known as “notwithstanding clauses” in the Bill.

These would explicitly state that British courts can ignore European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings if a migrant who entered the country illegally attempts to claim that their deportation would breach their right to a family life or right to liberty and security.

Supporters say such a clause would also have enabled the UK to ignore the interim ruling by the ECHR which blocked the first deportation flight to Rwanda last June even though the policy had been ruled lawful by all tiers of the UK judiciary including the Supreme Court.

If Rishi Sunak decides not to include such clauses in the Bill, Tory backbenchers could seek to introduce them through an amendment when the law is introduced in the Commons.

Two other options are also being considered by ministers to ensure deportations can go ahead.

One would prevent all small boat migrants from submitting a judicial review of their exclusion from the asylum system.

The second, less radical proposal would allow legal challenges to deportations to be lodged only once the migrant has been removed from the UK, a process known as “out-of-country appeals”.

One source familiar with the process said: “Ministers are looking to close down any loopholes for anyone other than those who arrive in the UK through a legal and safe route.”

All three options would see the UK remain within the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) although it was confirmed yesterday that the Prime Minister is prepared to withdraw if European judges rule unlawful the plans to bar illegal migrants from claiming asylum in the UK.

Mr Sunak is said to want to push the boundaries of what is legally possible while staying within the ECHR.

Last week, he said he wanted a system where migrants who arrived illegally would be “swiftly detained” with their claims heard “in a matter of days or weeks” and then safely removed to their home country or Rwanda.

Business secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “What we can’t have is boats arriving here with illegal gangs and gangmasters trafficking people here and to be impotent in return.

“So Rishi is absolutely right to apply the full force of the law to stop this illegal trade in human misery. And I think he’s right to make sure we can change the law.”

Home Office modelling is said to suggest 65,000 migrants will cross the Channel this year unless the Government takes action. A record 45,756 migrants reached the UK last year in small boats, a 60 per cent increase on 2021.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council said: “These plans shatter the UK’S long-standing commitment to support refugees regardless of the path they have taken to reach our shores.”