The Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has insisted he will ignore international law in a bid to ensure asylum seekers get deported to Rwanda.
Sunak managed to get his opinion-dividing policy via its latest parliamentary stage recently after days of revolts from Conservative MPs, who want the bill toughened up.
Opposition parties criticized Sunak for focusing on the “unworkable and expensive policy” of Rwanda rather than tackling crises in the NHS and the economy.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the happenings in recent days “confirms how desperately out of touch and out of ideas this Conservative government is”, while SNP’s Alison Thewliss said Sunak’s priorities were “all wrong and the public are fed up”.
The legal advice of the Government states that failing to comply with so-called section 39 orders from European courts – previously used to stop deportation flights taking off before additional court hearings – would amount to a breach of international law.
Rule 39 orders are promulgated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on an exceptional situations, where there is a “real risk of serious and irreversible harm”.
When asked during a recent press conference whether he would be willing to ignore such rulings, Sunak said: “I’ve been crystal clear repeatedly that I won’t let a foreign court stop us from getting flights off and getting this deterrent up and running.
“The bill specifically contains a power that makes clear that ministers are the ones that make these decisions. Parliament has supported that.
“[The bill also] makes it perfectly clear that the domestic courts should respect that decision.”
“I would not have put that clause in the bill if I was not prepared to use it. So, look, if you’re asking me are there circumstances in which I will ignore rule 39, then the answer is clearly yes.”
