Suella Braverman hails ‘crucial power’ allowing ministers to ignore European judges last-minute efforts to block migrant deportation flights to Rwanda as Home Secretary urges MPs to back tough new laws to ‘stop the boats’
- Suella Braverman calls for passing of Illegal Migration Bill ‘as soon as possible’
Suella Braverman has hailed a ‘crucial power’ that will allow ministers to ignore European judges’ last-minute efforts to block migrant deportation flights to Rwanda.
The Home Secretary urged Parliament to pass legislation ‘as soon as possible’ to toughen Britain’s asylum system in the face of the small boats crisis in the Channel.
The Government’s Illegal Migration Bill is due to return to the House of Commons on Wednesday when MPs will be asked to consider a series of amendments.
These include a number tabled by Mrs Braverman herself, after she and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak bowed to pressure from Tory backbenchers to beef up the Bill.
One change being proposed by the Government is for ministers to be able to decide whether or not to accept a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Suella Braverman hailed a ‘crucial power’ that will allow ministers to ignore European judges’ last-minute efforts to block migrant deportation flights to Rwanda
The Home Secretary revealed amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill aimed to give ministers ‘discretion’ over interim rulings from the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights
The Government is pursuing the Illegal Migration Bill as a key part of its efforts to stop the Channel migrant crisis
It comes after the Strasbourg-based court suspended the first scheduled deportation flight to Rwanda last June, under a proposed new migration scheme, with a late-night ruling.
In an article for the Telegraph, Mrs Braverman revealed amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill aimed to give ministers ‘discretion’ over interim measures from the ECHR.
‘Last year we saw the European court in Strasbourg issue Rule 39 interim measures, which blocked a removal flight to Rwanda,’ the Home Secretary wrote.
‘Our Bill will now give ministers a broad discretion whether to comply with interim measures in individual cases. This is a crucial power.
‘At the same time, we are continuing to engage in constructive dialogue with Strasbourg on possible reforms to their process around interim measures.’
The Government have pointed to the new Rwanda migration scheme – which will see those who enter Britain illegally given a one-way ticket to Africa to have their asylum claims processed – and the Illegal Migration Bill as key parts of their efforts to stop the Channel migrant crisis.
Mrs Braverman urged Parliament ‘to bring this Bill into force as soon as possible so we can stop the boats’ and demanded Labour also support the legislation rather than ‘seek to water it down and block our measures’.
New Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who replaced Dominic Raab in the role on Friday, said this morning that ministers will be handed ‘discretion’ over so-called Rule 39 orders from the ECHR by allowing them to consider the ‘timeliness’ of rulings.
But he stressed that Mrs Braverman and other ministers would not be given ‘carte blanche’ to disobey orders from the European court if the Bill is passed.
‘The Home Secretary will be given a discretion and ability to look at the circumstances of that orderfrom the ECHR and will, for example, cover factors such as the timeliness of the imposition of the order — so, for example, if it is done at last minute — and also the transparency of it,’ he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday show.
Pressed on whether the Government’s proposed amendments to the Bill would allow the Home Office to ignore Strasbourg rulings, Mr Dowden added: ‘There will be a Section 39 discretion.
‘Now, I’m not saying that will give the Home Secretary carte blanche to overrule rulings.
‘What I would say is that we are engaging very closely with the European court, we are making very good progress.
‘I think it is right that the Home Secretary should have a discretion, so, for example, we don’t have this situation where at the very last minute an order is imposed.
‘Those are the kind of factors the Home Secretary will be able to consider.’
Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth said his party didn’t think the Illegal Migration Bill would ‘fix the problem’ of trafficking gangs who smuggle people across the Channel.
Asked if Labour believes it is acceptable for European courts to overrule decisions made in the UK, Mr Ashworth said: ‘We should always follow the law. We should not be acting outside of the law.
‘The point is that scheme (Rwanda) is not working, quite self-evidently because the Home Secretary has sent more journalists to Rwanda (than migrants).
‘We should use the resources that have been ploughed into that scheme to invest in a specialist crime agency to really go after these criminal people-trafficking gangs.’
