Rishi Sunak has blasted judges who ruled the Tories’ plan to send Channel migrants to Rwanda is unlawful.
Appeal Court judges decided by two to one that the Conservatives’ policy was wrong in law.
Confirming the Government would challenge the decision at the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister highlighted how Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett sided with the Home Office against his colleagues, Master of the Rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lord Justice Underhill.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the PM said: “I respect the court but I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions.
“I strongly believe - and the Lord Chief Justice made clear that he agrees with us as well - that the Rwandans have provided all the assurances necessary to ensure there is no real risk that asylum seekers who are relocated under our policy would be wrongly returned to third countries.
"Rwanda is a safe country, the High Court agrees with that."
Plans to deport asylum seekers to the east African nation were thrown into disarray on Thursday after the Appeal Court ruled it could not be considered a "safe third country".
In a humiliating blow for the PM and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, campaigners and asylum seekers won their legal challenge over the controversial scheme, which opponents dismiss as a "vanity project".
But, vowing to take the case to the highest court in the land, Mr Sunak said: “We will seek permission to appeal this case to the Supreme Court.
“We remain entirely confident that what we are doing is right and it is also fair because there is nothing moral or compassionate by allowing the current system to continue.
“People are just needlessly dying as they try and make these crossings, they are exploited by criminal gangs.”
Asked when deportation flights might take off, Mr Sunak said: “It is a matter for the court in terms of timeline.”
He added: "It's your Government and it is not the criminal gangs who should decide who comes here.”
Boris Johnson tonight intervened in the row, echoing his 2019 election campaign to "get Brexit done”.
Calling on Mr Sunak to "get Rwanda done”, he wrote: "It is time for the Government to settle the legal position.
"It is time — with a large remaining majority — for Parliament to determine that Rwanda is safe, bust the evil people traffickers, stop the boats, recapture the spirit of 2019 and get Rwanda done."
Writing in his Daily Mail column, Mr Johnson added: “I have every hope that the Supreme Court will follow the opinion of the Lord Chief Justice, and quash the decision of the Court of Appeal.
“But we must be realistic. There is now a good chance that the law’s delays will be so severe that no illegal arrivals will be sent to Rwanda this year, and perhaps not even next year.”
He insisted the “Rwanda plan is the only practical hope” of breaking people smugglers’ business model.
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