Human rights expert explains what stopped the first Rwanda flight
The humane, decent and moral response to migrants crossing the Channel is to send them to Rwanda, home secretary Priti Patel has said.
Insisting the government will press ahead with its plan, she told MPs that “the usual suspects” had set out to “thwart” it, in an apparent reference to human-rights lawyers who have challenged it.
But she added: “This government will not be deterred from doing the right thing. We will not be put off by the inevitable legal last-minute challenges. Nor will we allow mobs to block removals.”
She said the decision by the European Court of Human Rights that halted last night’s flight was “disappointing and surprising” but “we remain committed to this policy”.
The government will challenge the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that grounded the Home Office’s Rwanda flight last night, a cabinet minister said earlier.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson has confirmed the government is considering withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, saying “all options are on the table”.
Opinion: Don’t blame Boris Johnson for the Rwanda mess – it’s what the public wants
A lot of people voted Conservative precisely because of things like the Rwanda policy, and Labour hasn’t come up with any credible alternative plans, writes Sean O’Grady.
No one is explaining how the the European Convention on Human Rights protects people in this country or why migration is good for Britain.
Until they do, England is drifting into becoming what you might call a Millwall nation:
Today’s Dover arrivals tally hits 150
The tally of people brought ashore in Dover today has risen to nearly 150, as low winds create ideal weather conditions for Channel crossing attempts.
So far, approximately 146 people including around 28 children have been rescued from small boats in the Channel and taken to the Kent port on board Border Force ships.
At Dover, the asylum-seekers are then put on buses and sent to processing centres.
Border Force and RNLI ship activity suggests there may also have been rescues carrying migrants into Ramsgate or Dungeness.
With crossings going on well into the night on Tuesday, it is likely there are more crossings to come and this number will increase when the Ministry of Defence releases the official figures on Thursday.
The majority of people brought ashore in Dover today were men aged from their late teens to their 30s or 40s but there were also a number of women and children.
The countries of origin of the people coming ashore in Dover included Afghanistan, Iraq and Egypt.
Judges barred removal of three men just 40 minutes before flight
Court of Appeal judges granted injunctions to three asylum-seekers whose challenges were dismissed at the High Court yesterday.
The court has confirmed that three judges held an urgent hearing at 9.50pm – just 40 minutes before the flight was due to take off.
The injunction prevents the removal of the men until after a challenge against the decision of Mr Justice Swift to reject their bids to remain in the UK pending the full judicial review of the Rwanda relocation policy, due to be heard in July.
The Court of Appeal will hear applications for permission to appeal by the three men on 28 June.
Labour MP urged to retract Patel ‘slur’
Priti Patel was branded a “snowflake” after she criticised a Labour MP for making a “personal slur” against her.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana said: “Let’s get a few things straight here: it’s not about stopping people-trafficking, it’s about whipping up hate, dividing communities and it’s about distracting others from the failures of this Government.
“Because if the Home Secretary really wanted to help refugees, if she had a single ounce of compassion, she’d bin this inhumane policy and instead she would create safe and legal routes to help refugees live and rebuild their lives in Britain. Will she do that?”
Ms Patel replied: “I hope [Ms Sultana], when she calms down, will withdraw her personal slur against me.”
One Labour MP could be heard shouting: “Snowflake.”
Instead of withdrawing her comment, Ms Sultana repeated it in a tweet.
Patel denies attacking lawyers
Priti Patel has denied attacking lawyers, saying such claims were a “deliberate misrepresentation”.
Labour’s Stella Creasy told the Commons: “To hear the Home Secretary talk, you would think that the European Court of Human Rights wasn’t part of this country’s legal processes.
“And the reason it is – and it’s a very good libertarian reason – is that one of its founders said, is that the European Court will be set up so that cases of the violations of the rights of our own body of 12 nations might be brought for judgment in the civilised world. Wise words about protecting citizens from overbearing governments who seek to deny their most basic rights.
“So, will she just abandon this expensive mess because we know, as she said, there will be further legal action, further cost to the public purse here in the UK, and stop the attacks on the lawyers just doing their jobs in holding her to the law, or does she think that Churchill was wrong?”
The Home Secretary replied: “I will refer her to the comments that I’ve already made in the House and specifically, I take issue with her in terms of her comments, specifically saying that I’m attacking lawyers, which is simply not what I have been doing this afternoon in this debate.
“It is a deliberate misrepresentation, and I think the honourable lady might even want to withdraw her comments.”
We’ll assess options on European human-rights convention, says top legal adviser
Asked whether the Government is considering pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Attorney-General repeated the words of Boris Johnson’s spokesman, saying: “All options are on the table.”
Suella Braverman said many people were likely to be frustrated that a foreign court had cut across parliamentary statute in preventing the flight to Rwanda from taking off.
Pressed on whether withdrawing from the ECHR was a possibility, she told Radio 4’s World At One: “Well, the Government has been clear in the media aftermath of the ruling issued by the (ECHR) that all options are on the table. So we’re not ruling anything in and we’re not ruling anything out.
“I think what is clear is it’s a very frustrating situation that we find ourselves in… many people will have assumed that we took control back of our borders when we left the European Union,” Ms Braverman added.
She said: “It is a decision that has caused a setback. That’s clear to see. We are considering our response in relation to that decision but more broadly we are definitely open to assessing all options available as to what our relationship should be going forward with the (ECHR).”
Policy ‘would be out of the question’ in Germany
Germany’s ambassador to the UK says the government’s Rwanda policy would be “out of the question” in his country.
Asked how he believed the policy was being viewed on the international stage, Miguel Berger told Radio ‘s The World At One: “The only thing I can say there is that this is something that for a country like Germany would be out of the question. We don’t do these kind of things.”
He added: “We would never intend to bring any asylum-seekers to Africa.”
European court’s ‘opaque’ decision concerning, says Patel
The “opaque nature” of the European Court of Human Rights decision is concerning, the home secretary said.
Conservative former minister Sir Mike Penning asked: “This Parliament is supreme, our courts have said this is right, this is what the British people want us to do, control immigration coming across in those boats, so how is it right that this court (the ECHR) has overruled all of our courts and this Parliament?”
Priti Patel replied: “What is concerning of course is that our domestic courts have been very transparent in their decision-making and the way in which they communicated their verdicts, in the High Court, Supreme Court and also the Court of Appeal.
“It is concerning obviously about the opaque nature in which last night’s appeal was conducted by the European Court of Human Rights, in the way in which they informed the UK Government around one individual.
“Of course it is right that we spend time now going back to that court to actually get the grounds upon which they made their decision.”
Shadow home secretary attacks ‘shambles’
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded government policy a shambles.
“It is shameful and the home secretary has no one but herself to blame, this is not and has never been a serious policy and she knew that when she chartered the plane,” she said.
“She knew that among the people she was planning to send to Rwanda on this plane were torture and trafficking victims. She knew she didn’t have a proper screening process in place, she knew that some of them might be children,” Ms Cooper said.
“So can she confirm it was the Home Office itself that withdrew a whole series of these cases on Friday and yesterday because they knew there was a problem with these cases, that even without the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment she was planning to send a plane with just seven people on board because she had to withdraw most of the cases at the last minute.”
On home secretary Ms Patel, Ms Cooper said: “She’s so badly failing to take those basic decisions, she is trying to pay a country thousands of miles away to take decisions for us instead.”
The Labour frontbencher said: “She knows this is unworkable … She still went ahead and spent half a million pounds chartering a plane she never expected to fly.
“She still went ahead and wrote a £120m cheque to Rwanda with a promise of more to come and she still went ahead because all she really cares about is picking fights and finding someone else to blame.”
Ms Cooper added: “This isn’t a long-term plan, is a short-term stunt. Everyone can see it, it’s not a serious policy, it’s shameless posturing and she knows it ….
“It is government by gimmick. It’s not in the public interest, it’s just in their political interest.”
The Home Secretary replied: “Reforming our systems, so yes, so that they are firm, but equally so that they are fair to those who pay for them and fair on those who need our help and support.”
Boris Johnson considering withdrawal from human rights treaty
Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson has confirmed the government is considering withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, saying “all options are on the table”, reports Andrew Woodcock:
