The New Government's Stance on Rwanda Deportation

Last year, the Illegal Migration Act 2023 set out the Home Office’s duty to make arrangements for removal of migrants and to decide on the inadmissibility of asylum and human rights claims. The government also introduced a policy for removal to Rwanda which faced early challenges and was held unlawful by the UK Supreme Court in November 2023.

In an attempt to address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court regarding the safety of Rwanda, the government passed the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 on 25^th April 2024. Nevertheless, there continued to be ongoing legal challenges to the scheme.

The recent election has seen a change in government and a new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer from the Labour Party. On 6 July Sir Starmer announced the Rwanda scheme is “dead and buried”.  He confirmed that it would have only deported “less than 1%” of individuals entering the UK by small boats.”

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