UK committed to flying out migrants to Rwanda: Minister Priti Patel

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday told Parliament that the government remains committed to its policy of flying out some illegal migrants to Rwanda, as she dubbed as “opaque” a European court ruling that grounded the first flight.

Making a statement in the House of Commons over the contentious issue, the senior Indian-origin Cabinet minister behind finalising the new migration plan, said the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to intervene and halt the flight was ''disappointing and surprising''.

''While this decision by the Strasbourg court to intervene was disappointing and surprising given the repeated and considered judgments to the contrary in our domestic courts, we remain committed to this policy,'' Patel told MPs.

''We believe that we are fully compliant with our domestic and international obligations and preparations for our future flights and the next flights have already begun…This government will not be deterred from doing the right thing. We will not be put off by the inevitable legal last-minute challenges,'' she said.

The minister said the UK Home Office is in touch with the ECHR to get the judgment in writing to determine the next steps.

“It is concerning when the British courts have been so public in terms of providing their summary and their positions that last night was very opaque in decision making,” she added.

The UK Home Office is said to be working on the next stages of the legal process to appeal against the decision. The ECHR in Strasbourg, which is not a European Union body and of which the UK remains a member, ruled in favour of an Iraqi man to say he faced ''a real risk of irreversible harm'' if he remained on the flight. The court said he should not be sent to Rwanda until the full decision on whether the government's policy is legal is made by the UK Supreme Court, which is due in July.

Downing Street has indicated all options are on the table, including the possibility of the UK deciding to withdraw from the ECHR.

The Opposition Labour Party criticised the government for the ''shambles and shameful'' policy, which is a ''gimmick'' that would not address immigration issues in the long term.

The UK's new Migration Partnership with Rwanda is part of a five-year trial launched by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier, in which some asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally are transported to Rwanda to claim refuge there. They will get accommodation and support while the Rwandan government considers their application, and if they are successful they can stay in the country with up to five years' access to education and support. If their asylum claim is unsuccessful, they will be offered the chance to apply for other immigration routes or face deportation from Rwanda. The move has faced widespread criticism, including from the Church of England leaders who branded it an ''immoral policy that shames Britain''.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended the plan as necessary to combat unsafe and life-threatening crossings in the English Channels dominated by people traffickers.

“We are not going to be in any way deterred or abashed by some of the criticism that is being directed upon this policy – some of it from slightly unexpected quarters,” Johnson told his ministers in Cabinet on Tuesday.

“What is happening with the attempt to undermine the Rwanda policy is that they are, I’m afraid, undermining everything that we’re trying to do to support safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK and to oppose the illegal and dangerous routes. That is what we are trying to do, that is the essence of our policy,” he said.

Judges in the UK Court of Appeal had ruled on Monday that the flight could go ahead after a legal challenge by campaigners, who say the government's plan to send some migrants to the east African country is inhumane.