The UK Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a controversial government plan to send migrants to Rwanda and upheld a lower court ruling that it was unlawful, in a major setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
A five-judge panel at the UK’s highest court unanimously sided with Court of Appeal judges that the policy was incompatible with Britain’s obligations under international treaties.
“We conclude that the Court of Appeal… was entitled to find that there are substantial grounds for believing that the removal of the claimants to Rwanda would expose them to a real risk of ill-treatment,” they concluded.
The judges agreed with the lower court’s June verdict that Rwanda risked forcibly returning asylum seekers and refugees to a country where they could face persecution, in a move known as refoulement.
“Having been taken through the evidence we agree with their conclusion,” they added in their 56-page ruling.
Sunak’s ruling Conservatives have insisted the Rwanda scheme is crucial to reduce “illegal” immigration across the Channel on small boats — an issue set to feature prominently in the next general election.
But the ruling scuppers a saga that began in April last year when Britain signed a deal with Rwanda to send undocumented migrants to interim centres there, and leaves the UK leader’s immigration agenda in tatters.
It is also set to widen rifts in the ruling Tory party between right-wing lawmakers and moderates.
Sunak said the ruling was “not the outcome we wanted” and the government “will now consider next steps” while ministers in Kigali “take issue” with the ruling that Rwanda was not a safe third country.
