RWANDA SHAMBLES

Rishi's bid to side-step court ruling | £140m spent and small boat hell still goes on

- DAVE BURKE 

Supreme Court judges unanimously torpedoed the plan, ruling Rwanda is not a safe country to send asylum-seekers.

They ruled there are substantial grounds for believing asylum seekers sent to the African country face a real risk of ill-treatment.

People could be forced back to their homeland, also highlighting deficiencies in the country's asylum system, the judges ruled.

But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised new legislation to get around their decision.

His strategy is to seek a treaty with Rwanda that will address the concerns of the Supreme Court.

He will also aim to introduce emergency laws to empower Parliament itself, not the courts, to confirm that Rwanda is safe.

Mr Sunak told a Downing Street press conference: "We will take the extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation.

OBSTACLES

"This will enable Parliament to confirm that, with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe. It will ensure that people cannot further delay flights by bringing systemic challenges in our domestic courts.

Leaving the door open to abandoning the European Convention on Human Rights, he added: "I am prepared to change our laws and revisit those international relationships to remove the obstacles."

In a sign of how divisive the issue is for the Tories, former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said moments later such a course of action would not be sensible, adding: "Let's put that one to bed." In promising the new legislation, Mr Sunak appeared to be bowing to pressure from Suella Braverman, who he sacked as Home Secretary on Monday.

After lashing out at the PM in a furious resignation letter, she said: "The Government must introduce emergency legislation We must legislate or admit defeat.

Ms Braverman is not the only Tory now gunning for Mr Sunak.