The UK’s highest court has been slammed by Tory MPs and others after judges agreed that the policy of deporting migrants to Rwanda is unlawful.
In a ruling this morning, the Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal’s ruling that refugees sent to Rwanda are at risk of being deported back to their home country.
Such a move is incompatible with the UK’s human rights treaties and laws, as it could be a risk to the asylum seekers’ lives.
Reacting to the ruling, Tory MPs immediately slammed the Supreme Court and its judges.
Philip Davies MP told the Express that the ruling had sparked a “constitutional crisis”.
He said: “I think we have a constitutional crisis on our hands. It is clear that Parliament has passed all the necessary legislation for this to happen, and the job of judges is to implement the laws passed by Parliament, not to rule on whether or not they like the policy.”
The MP and GB News presenter added: “If the judges don’t like the policy they should take off their robes and stand for election.
“We cannot have unelected judges determining whether they like a policy or not.
“We have had more and more judicial activism in recent years blurring the lines between politics and the law, and I fear the courts have badly overreached here, and I fear for the ramifications of this overreach.”
Meanwhile, Red Wall MP Brendan Clarke-Smith shared an image of the 2016 Daily Mail headline “enemies of the people”, published after they ruled the Government would require a vote in parliament to trigger the Article 50 Brexit process.
Mr Clarke-Smith added: “We’ve been here before.”
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said the ruling couldn’t have come at a worse time, and warned the decision will “embolden the people smugglers and put more lives at risk”.
The Tory added that David Cameron’s new top foreign policy priority should be a new cross-Channel agreement with France to stop the boats.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice said the PM will now not be able to stop the boats, and the UK must now “copy the Australian policy” of pushing back the boats”.
He added: “We know it works, it worked in Australia within a matter of weeks but it requires courage, guts and leadership – something that is woefully absent with this Prime Minister.”
Responding to the ruling, the Prime Minister said he would now consider the next steps.
He said: “This was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent the last few months planning for all eventualities and we remain completely committed to stopping the boats.
“Crucially, the Supreme Court – like the Court of Appeal and the High Court before it – has confirmed that the principle of sending illegal migrants to a safe third country for processing is lawful. This confirms the Government’s clear view from the outset.”
He will hold a press conference at 4.45 pm today.
