Government plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda are unlawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled. In a decision on Thursday, three judges overturned a High Court judgment that previously said the east African nation could be considered a “safe third country”.
The Court of Appeal’s decision was announced by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett during a short hearing in London, where he stressed the court reached its conclusion on the law and took “no view whatever” about the political merits of the policy. When asked by the PA news agency if the Rwandan government was considering intervening in the case in order to appeal against the ruling, a spokesman for the nation’s administration said: “The UK Government is considering an appeal.”
The Home Secretary Suella Braverman will make a statement in the House of Commons later on Thursday, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said. Lord Burnett, who heard the appeal with Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lord Justice Underhill in April, said the court ruled by a majority that the policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful.
