Rishi Sunak has said he will introduce emergency legislation to make sure his Rwanda plan is not blocked again – and insisted “flights will be heading off in the spring as planned”.
After the Supreme Court ruled the flagship asylum policy is unlawful, the prime minister said he had been working on a new international treaty with the East African nation to address the judges’ concerns and ensure it is “safe”.
He said: “This will provide a guarantee in law that those who are relocated from the UK to Rwanda will be protected against removal from Rwanda and it will make clear that we will bring back anyone if ordered to do so by a court.
“We will finalise this treaty in light of today’s judgment and ratify it without delay.”
Mr Sunak insisted the legislation would “end the merry-go-round” of legal challenges that have stopped flights from taking off since the controversial plan was announced in April last year.
The policy would see anyone arriving in the UK by unauthorised means deported to Rwanda to claim asylum there – not the UK.
“We need to end the merry-go-round,” Mr Sunak told a Downing Street news conference.
“I said I was going to fundamentally change our country, and I meant it.”
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The PM said he would be taking the “extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation”, which will “enable parliament to confirm that with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe”.
But he also acknowledged that even if domestic laws are changed, the government could still face legal challenges from the European Court of Human Rights and vowed: “I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights.”
“If the Strasbourg court chooses to intervene against the express wishes of parliament,I am prepared to do what is necessary to get flights off,” he said.
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0:47
Supreme Court rules Rwanda plan unlawful
In its ruling on Wednesday, the UK’s highest court said refugees sent to Rwanda would be at “real risk” of being returned to their country of origin, whether their grounds to claim asylum were justified or not – breaching international law.
It has fuelled calls from some Tory MPs to pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to push forward with the plan – something Mr Sunak has so far resisted doing.
An eleventh-hour injunction from the ECHR stopped the first scheduled flights from taking off to Rwanda’s capital Kigali last June, and no one has been deported since.
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0:42
Asylum seekers celebrate Rwanda verdict
The Supreme Court judges said it is not only the ECHR which is relevant to their ruling, pointing out that the UK is signed up “other international treaties which also prohibit the return of asylum seekers to their countries of origin without a proper examination of their claims”.
The prime minister set out a two part plan – first, putting the Rwanda agreement into a treaty, ensuring once asylum seekers are taken to the country, they will stay there.
But it was the second bit that we didn’t know was coming that could prove controversial – the emergency legislation.
It sounds as if the PM is planning to pass a law that declares Rwanda a ‘safe’ country and that cannot be challenged in the UK courts on the basis of the European Human Rights Convention and other international human rights laws.
In effect, the UK courts would have to accept that judgment as parliament is sovereign. So, providing this legislation doesn’t get gummed up in the House of Lords, that’s the domestic courts sorted.
However, that legislation would not override the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
An asylum seeker would be able to take their claim to that court, which would then make its own judgment on whether Rwanda is ‘safe’, as the UK government would have declared.
Even before they have ruled, the Strasbourg court could issue a “rule 39” order to block flights. It sounds from the news conference as if Sunak would simply ignore that if it came again. This means there’s a much higher chance flights to Rwanda might be able to take off.
A judgment from the Strasbourg court that Rwanda is not, in fact, a safe country would in time likely set up a huge political and legal battle for the government.
Would they simply ignore the ruling and send flights to Rwanda anyway? Is the government happy to be in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights? Would we be expelled or leave?
Big questions, but perhaps ones not settled this side of an election. Which might just be the point.
Mr Sunak was not clear about how he thinks he can circumvent human rights laws and international conventions.
However he said he was confident that his new plan will work.
The PM said he is “delivering” on his pledge to stop the boats, and the new treaty is “ready to go” to reassure the courts.
“We will clear the remaining barriers and flights will be heading off in the spring as planned,” he added.
However, some Tory MPs want Mr Sunak to go further and disapply human rights laws so the scheme can go ahead.
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2:31
Rwanda ruling ‘massive blow’ to PM
Suella Braverman, who was sacked as home secretary on Monday, has called for emergency legislation to “block off the ECHR and other routes of legal challenge”.
Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson said the government should “ignore the laws” and send migrants back the same day they arrive in the UK.
The New Conservatives, a right-wing pressure group of MPs, said Mr Sunak’s new legislation “must disapply the Human Rights Act and give effect to the policy *notwithstanding* the ECHR and Refugee Convention”.
“It must restate the power of Govt to disregard interim rulings from Strasbourg,” they posted on X.
Britain is expected to pay Rwanda more money for the new treaty, having already handed over £140m under the plans that have seen not one asylum seeker removed since it was announced.
Earlier, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded an apology to the nation from Mr Sunak for wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash on the “ridiculous, pathetic spectacle”.
A Reform UK canvasser who used a racial slur against Rishi Sunak has called himself a “total fool” and said he has learned his lesson.
Footage from an undercover Channel 4 reporter showed Reform campaigner Andrew Parker using a discriminatory term about the prime minister, as well as saying the army should “just shoot” migrants crossing the Channel.
Mr Parker, who was canvassing in Clacton, where Reform leader Nigel Farage is standing, told Sky News the sting operation had “proper taught me a lesson”.
He said: “There’s lots of old people like me who are sick to death of this woke agenda… but on that particular day, I was set up and set up good and proper.
“It’s proper taught me a lesson – I was a total fool.”
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Pressed on his use of the racial slur, he said he was an “old man” and “I still use old words”.
“There’s no racism at all in it. I am a decent guy to be honest”, he added.
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In the Channel 4 report, Mr Parker can be heard using offensive language about the prime minister and also discussing migrants arriving in small boats in Deal, Kent
He said: “Army recruitment – get the young recruits there, with guns, on the f****** beach, target practice. F****** just shoot them.”
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Sunak ‘hurt’ over Reform race row
He also described Islam as a “disgusting cult”.
Mr Farage said he was “dismayed” by the “appalling” comments and has sought to distance himself from the campaigner, saying he was simply “someone who turned up to help” and “has nothing to do with the party”.
He has also used reports Mr Parker was a part-time actor to suggest the incriminating film was a “total set-up” – something Channel 4 has strongly denied.
Mr Parker himself says his volunteering for Reform was separate from his acting job – and claims he was “goaded” into making the comments.
A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “We strongly stand by our rigorous and duly impartial journalism which speaks for itself.
Image: Farage has tried to distance himself from the comments
“We met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser.
“We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation.”
The broadcaster’s investigation also caught another canvasser describing the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggesting members of the LGBT community are paedophiles.
A spokesman for Essex Police said the force is “urgently assessing” the comments “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.
PM ‘hurt and angry’ over racial slur
Mr Sunak reacted furiously to the comments and said Mr Farage had “some questions to answer”.
He said: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing P***. It hurts and it makes me angry and I think he has some questions to answer.
“And I don’t repeat those words lightly. I do so deliberately because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is.
“As prime minister, but more importantly as a father of two young girls, it’s my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour.”
Unrepentant Farage doubles down
However, Mr Farage was unrepentant when grilled on the row during a BBC Question Time leaders’ special, saying he was “not going to apologise” for the actions of people associated with his party.
Reform UK has faced a series of controversies relating to election candidates saying offensive or racist things.
Asked why his party “attracts racists and extremists”, the former UKIP leader claimed he had “done more to drive the far right out of British politics than anybody else alive” – claiming he took on the British Nationalist Party (BNP) a decade ago.
He also appeared to throw his predecessor Richard Tice under the bus when read racist and xenophobic comments made by Reform candidates, saying he “inherited a start up party” and has “no idea” why the people who said those things had been selected.
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Police say they are not looking for anyone else after a paramedic was found dead along with a woman at a house in Staffordshire.
Detectives had opened a murder investigation after the bodies of Daniel Duffield, 24, from Cannock, and Lauren Evans, 22,from Bridgend in South Wales, were discovered in a property in Hednesford, Cannock, at around 12.30pm on Tuesday afternoon.
But on Friday, the force confirmed that they were not looking for anyone else and that post-mortems have been carried out – they added that the causes of death will be determined at an inquest.
Image: Mr Duffield was found dead on Tuesday afternoon. Pic: Daniel Duffield/Facebook
A file is now being prepared for coroners and the families of the two victims are being supported by specialist officers.
Mr Duffield worked for West Midlands Ambulance Service and featured in an episode of 999: On The Frontline which was broadcast in March.
The documentary series follows ambulance crews as they attend to callouts.
‘Families devastated’
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Detective Superintendent Nicki Addison said: “This incident has understandably devastated the families and loved ones of those involved.
“We’d like to reiterate that the families have asked for their privacy to be respected at this tragic time. Please respect that.
“And again, we’d like to remind you that speculation is unhelpful and hurtful to the families – and can hinder our investigation.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has given us information. We expect the scene to be released once we’ve finished all of our investigative work and forensic examination.”
Tribute from crewmate
Ellie, his crewmate on the Channel 4 show, said she had spoken to Mr Duffield over the phone around an hour before he was found dead.
She wrote in a tribute on Instagram: “Never in a million years did I think I’d have to sit and write this and yet I’m still trying to come to terms with it, but I just want to express how special you was to me, not only my best friend at work and the best crewmate but one of my best friends who had a massive impact on day to day life.”
Ellie added that she was due to see Mr Duffield “this week” and had been looking forward to it.
She continued: “Dan I can’t believe your (sic) actually gone and I’ll forever cherish the dinner you made me the other week, (surprised how nice you made fajitas tbh).
“Love you forever Dan.”
Richard Barratt, a senior operations manager at the West Midlands Ambulance Service, also paid tribute to Mr Duffield and added: “I hope Daniel’s family can take some comfort from the hundreds of patients he helped through his time as a paramedic.”
Staffordshire Police and South Wales Police have both referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) due to “recent” and “previous” police contact prior to the two deaths.
A security guard told police Holly Willoughby “is a fantasy of mine” when he was arrested for plotting to kidnap the television presenter, in footage played in court.
Giving evidence for the first time on Friday, Gavin Plumb, 37, said Willoughby, 43, was “my celebrity crush” but insisted he never intended to act on his alleged plans.
In footage played at Chelmsford Crown Court, police are seen smashing through the front door of his home in Harlow, Essex, on 4 October last year, before a topless Plumb asks: “What the hell is going on?”
Stood in his bedroom, he is open mouthed as he is handcuffed, before an officer explains he is being arrested over an alleged conspiracy to kidnap the former This Morning host Willoughby while he is sat on his bed.
Image: Gavin Plumb arrest. Pic: Essex Police
“I’m not gonna lie. She is a fantasy of mine,” he says. “She’s a fantasy of a lot of guys I expect.”
Prosecutors say Plumb was obsessed with Willoughby – who stepped down from the ITV show in October last year after 14 years – and planned to abduct, repeatedly rape and murder her.
An undercover US police officer, using the name David Nelson, on Thursday told jurors he believed Plumb posed an “imminent threat” to the presenter, who hosted Dancing On Ice earlier this year.
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Image: Plumb denies the charges against him
Plumb shared a video of his “kidnap kit” with the officer and said he would use chloroform to snatch Willoughby from her home to sexually assault her before slitting her throat, the jury has heard.
The officer alerted UK police who found two bottles of liquid, alongside items including handcuffs, rope, shackles and cable ties, at Plumb’s home – but they were found not to contain the substance.
Further footage played in court shows Plumb being held in a police station holding area wearing a dark green T-shirt as officers searched his home as he says: “I can pretty much guess what they’re looking for.”
Plumb denies three charges of soliciting murder and encouraging kidnap and rape between 21 December 2021 and 5 October last year.
Image: Inside Plumb’s flat. Pic: CPS
Image: Plumb claimed chloroform was to remove carpet stain. Pic: CPS
Giving evidence for the first time on Friday, he told the jury he spent his life online engaging in “wholesome chat” but also fantasising about having sex with celebrities, including Willoughby, whom he had seen on daytime TV after he became housebound, having gained weight and reaching 35.5 stone.
“She was my celebrity crush,” said Plumb, who sat down in a chair to give his evidence, wearing a light grey sweater and dark trousers, after telling the judge he would not be able to stand.
Asked how many times he thought about her a day, Plumb said: “It would depend how many times I would chat about her. Some days it would be once, other days it would be four, five, six times.”
But the chats became “darker” from 2021, he said, being questioned by his barrister Sasha Wass KC.
Image: Gavin Plumb
Plumb told jurors he was “sorry” for the contents, adding: “I’m absolutely heartbroken, disgusted and shocked that it has come out.”
‘Kidnap kit’
He admitted he found the conversations “exciting” at the time but added: “Looking back at it now it’s massively regrettable because it’s not the sort of chat I would normally participate in.”
Plumb added: “It was kind of like gratification. It was something I knew was never going to happen.”
He told the jury he had bought most of the items, in what has been described as a “kidnap kit”, following a four-month sexual relationship in which he was introduced to “BDSM and rough sex”, while the chloroform was to clean a “large stain next to my fridge”.
Image: Items in Plumb’s alleged ‘kidnap kit’. Pic: CPS
Image: Pic: CPS
Plumb told jurors his weight started to fluctuate from the age of 13, which “really affected my mental health” because he could not play sport and was often put “in the friend zone” with girls.
Attempted double-kidnap
The defendant said he has only had one serious relationship, which he described as “extremely toxic”, and lasted four-and-a-half years, during which there were “constant arguments” and he was “constantly put down”.
“I don’t want to be in a relationship anymore,” he said.
The court has heard he has two convictions for attempted kidnap from 2006, after trying to abduct two women off the Stansted Express train, later claiming they were members of cabin crew. He had rope and an imitation firearm when he was arrested.
Plumb said he was wearing a uniform and travelling between car parks where he worked handing out tickets and although he admitted he “had a stewardess fantasy back then” he said he did it “to get out of the relationship” and it was a “cry for help”.
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He was handed a suspended sentence and in 2008 said he used a box cutter to hold two “shouting and screaming and crying” 16-year-old girls in a warehouse where he worked, taping one of their hands behind her back.
Plumb said he committed the offences to “get away from the relationship”, which ended while he was in jail after he was sentenced to 32 months in prison, serving half, after admitting two charges of false imprisonment.
‘Normal fantasy chat’
He told jurors once released he spent 99.9% of his life online, communicating with others about gaming, football and “normal fantasy chat” but it was “completely different” to the “dark” material he later shared.
Image: Gavin Plumb appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court. Pic: PA/Elizabeth Cook
Plumb said chats about him keeping Willoughby in a “dungeon” were “nothing more than talking”, adding: “It was a rush of excitement as I knew it was online chat to get my gratification and move on”.
He denied encouraging an online contact called Marc, who is believed to be based in Ireland, to kidnap or rape Willoughby, saying he never expected him or the undercover officer, whom he thought was in New York, to come to the UK.
“I knew it was never going to be anything more than a fantasy,” he said, telling jurors he never acted on any of the alleged plans.
The court heard Plumb has no driving licence or access to a car and so said he wouldn’t have been able to get to her house, while his weight at the time – up to 30 stone – meant he would be more likely to trip over a small step than scale the high boundary wall.
‘Violent, graphic descriptions’
But prosecutor Alison Morgan KC read out some of the explicit and degrading messages and suggested: “These are violent, graphic descriptions of what you are going to do to Holly Willoughby.”
“No, because it’s not going to happen,” Plumb replied.