The Government will now have to consider the legal costs of any future asylum policies they develop, a lawyer representing some of the refugees in the Rwanda deportation case has said.
Toufique Hossain, head of public law at law firm Duncan Lewis – which represented six of the lead claimants – said that politicians will have to bear in mind “the waste of taxpayers’ money” if they try to make a new asylum deal before it’s tested in the courts.
Speaking to the PA news agency outside court, he said: “I would argue at least now the Government has a blueprint in which to go about developing a new asylum policy.
“They will have to bear in mind, whatever deal they make, the waste of taxpayers’ money, hundreds of millions of pounds, in going through a deal before it’s tested in the courts.
“They’ll have to think carefully as to what deals they make with countries where they have serious concerns with those countries’ human rights records.”
Public law solicitor Sophie Lucas, also from Duncan Lewis, said it was a victory “first and foremost” for their clients.
“It is also a victory for the rule of law,” she said.
“It serves as an important reminder that no-one is above the law, including this Government.”
A number of groups involved in the initial High Court appeal also welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict.
James Wilson, director of Detention Action, said that they are “deeply relieved” that asylum seekers will not be handed over to “an authoritarian regime”.
“We are proud to have been one of the first claimants to bring this historic legal challenge, in solidarity with the thousands of people threatened with removal to Rwanda,” he said.
We call on the Government to re-evaluate its unworkable policy and to abandon the idea of forcibly removing people seeking asylum to third countries— Alison Pickup, Asylum Aid
“We urge the new Home Secretary to abandon this policy altogether, rather than repeating this mistake by seeking a similar agreement with another country.”
While Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), said that their campaign was “far from over”.
“It is not refugees that have driven down wages and starved public services of the resources they need, it is the fault of successive Tory governments that have overseen a sustained attack on living standards,” he said.
“The only way to protect human life and prevent people from drowning in the Channel is to give them safe passage – which we call on the Government to adopt.”
Alison Pickup, director of Asylum Aid, said that the Government had shown a “complete lack of humanity” in pursuing the policy through the courts.
“There is no evidence that this policy will work as a ‘deterrent’ to people who have no choice but to flee their homes,” she said.
“Worse, it causes significant anxiety and harm to those already in the UK, living in permanent fear of removal to a country they don’t know.
“We call on the Government to re-evaluate its unworkable policy and to abandon the idea of forcibly removing people seeking asylum to third countries.”
