Rishi Sunak says ‘flights will be heading off in the spring as planned’ despite Rwanda ruling
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.”
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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.”
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.
Read more:
Why Sunak’s promise looks extremely hard to keep | Beth Rigby analysis
Explainer – how did the government policy end up in the courts?
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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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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”.
What happens now?
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.
The news conference came shortly after new snap polling from YouGov show most people believe the policy should now be scrapped.
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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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”.
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Angela Rayner promises flagship workers’ law next month as she pledges ‘things can get better’
Angela Rayner has promised to bring Labour’s flagship workers’ rights bill to parliament next month as she told her party’s conference: “Things can get better if we make the right choices.”
The government has faced criticism in recent weeks over its pessimistic messaging around the economy, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warning October’s Budget would be “painful” in order to deal with the £22bn “black hole” he claims was left by the Conservatives.
But while his deputy said the party “can’t wish our problems away”, she said “hope won” when Labour achieved its landslide at the last election, adding: “Change has begun.”
Politics live: Rayner speaks at Labour conference
Speaking on the conference floor on the first full day of Labour’s annual gathering, Ms Rayner said: “Let me be blunt. We can’t wish our problems away. We have to face them. That’s the difference between opposition and government.
“But… things can get better if we make the right choices. Sustained economic growth is the only way to improve the lives of working people, and we’re fixing the foundations to put Britain back on the path to growth. No more talking, but doing.”
The deputy prime minister reiterated her party’s plans to improve renters’ rights, including ending no-fault evictions “for good”, as well as promising a “devolution revolution” in the north of England, and the “biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”.
But some of the biggest cheers from delegates came over her long-trailed plan to increase workers’ rights across the country, with her promising to bring the Employment Rights Bill to the Commons in October.
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Concerns have been raised over the legislation by some in the business community, with an Institute of Directors’ survey earlier this month citing the bill as a reason for pessimism among firms who fear the impact on their operations.
But the government has sought to play down any divide, and held several roundtables with company leaders in recent weeks to allay their fears.
Championing the bill, Ms Rayner said: “They said we couldn’t do it. Some tried to stop it in its tracks. But after years of opposition, we are on the verge of historic legislation to make work more secure, make it more family friendly, go further and faster to close the gender pay gap, ensure rights are enforced and trade unions are strengthened.
“That means repealing the Tories’ anti-worker laws and new rights for union reps too. A genuine living wage and sick pay for the lowest earners, banning exploitative zero-hour contracts and unpaid internships, ending fire and rehire. And we will bring in basic rights from day one on the job.
“This is our plan to make work pay, and it’s coming to a workplace near you.”
Concluding her speech, the deputy prime minister said: “On 4 July, the people entrusted us with the task of change and hope won. Now is our moment, not just to say, but to do.
“Labour governments of the past took on this same challenge at a time when Britain desperately needed change. They delivered a better Britain when the odds were stacked against them.
“And that is exactly what this Labour government must deliver once again. So conference, let’s get on with it.”
Angela Rayner will set out measures to protect renters from fire safety defects, damp and mould in her speech at the Labour Party conference.
The deputy prime minister, who is also the housing secretary, will commit to “building homes fit for the future” when she opens the party’s first annual gathering since winning the general election.
The package will include bringing forward a Remediation Acceleration Plan this autumn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings.
Deadly cladding remains on more than half of all residential blocks of flats identified as at risk since the Grenfell fire in 2017.
The issue has come back into the spotlight following the conclusion of the inquiry into the tragedy, which found that “systematic dishonesty” contributed to the blaze that killed 72 people.
The announcement of the acceleration plan was thin on detail, but the government said it would go “further and faster to fix unsafe cladding and make existing homes safe”.
Other measures Ms Rayner will announce on Sunday include consulting on a new “decent homes standard” for the social and private rented sectors, and a new law to make landlords respond to complaints about disrepair within legally binding timescales.
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These have already been announced as part of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which builds on long-awaited legislation that was promised by the Tories but ultimately shelved ahead of the general election.
The law regarding repairs will be named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Awaab Ishak
The Conservatives first proposed Awaab’s Law to cover the social rented sector, but Labour will extend it to cover the private sector in a move they say will help tenants in 746,000 homes with reported serious hazards secure faster repairs.
Commenting ahead of her speech, Ms Rayner, who has also pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, said: “Just because Britain isn’t working at the moment, it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.
“We will deliver for working people and, in doing so, show that politics can change lives.
“This Labour government is taking a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe, and warm.”
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‘All MPs take gifts and donations’
The speech comes as a donations row threatens to overshadow the optimistic mood of the party’s first conference while in government for 15 years.
The prime minister has come under scrutiny over the past week for the more than £100,000 worth of gifts he has accepted, including tickets to football matches, concerts and luxury clothes.
Following days of press coverage on the issue, it emerged on Friday that Sir Keir and his most senior ministers – Ms Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves – will no longer accept donations to pay for clothes.
On Saturday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News that there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by her colleagues but “we don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes”.
She defended the prime minister’s actions as being within the rules, saying that the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things “so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind”.
She added: “We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.
“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”
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