Charities could appeal High Court decision on 'lawful' Rwanda policy

Detention Action, Care4Calais, the PCS union and Asylum Aid all said they are disappointed with the ruling and are considering whether to appeal against the decision.

At a five-day hearing in September, lawyers for several asylum seekers – along with the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and charities Care4Calais and Detention Action – argued that the plans are unlawful and that Rwanda “tortures and murders those it considers to be its opponents”.

At a further hearing in October, lawyers for the charity Asylum Aid also challenged the policy, arguing that the procedure is “seriously unfair” and also unlawful, with asylum seekers put at risk of being removed without access to legal advice.

Deputy director of Detention Action James Wilson said the policy is “brutal and harmful” and the charity will “fight on” but it is a “huge relief” that the court ruled in favour of eight asylum seekers, adding that the findings in their cases “highlights itself problems with the policy”.

Alison Pickup, director of Asylum Aid, said: “We will be looking closely at this judgment to see if there are any grounds for an appeal. Meanwhile, we urge the Home Secretary to re-think this inhumane policy and come up with one that can give us all faith in the asylum decision-making process. One that treats asylum applications with the seriousness they deserve and respects the human dignity of those seeking sanctuary here.”

Other campaigners have called on the Government to completely abandon sending migrants to Rwanda, with opposition politicians, charities and other organisations lined up to condemn the multimillion-pound deal, arguing it will “do nothing” to stop Channel crossings.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded the Government’s Rwanda plan “unworkable”, “unethical” and “extortionately expensive”, adding that it was a “damaging distraction from the urgent action the Government should be taking to go after the criminal gangs and sort out the asylum system”.

Amnesty International UK said the Rwanda plan should be “abandoned in its entirety” and called on Home Secretary Suella Braverman to “stop playing politics with people’s lives and get down to the serious task of fixing the disastrously dysfunctional asylum system and policies that she recklessly adopted from her predecessor.”

But Boris Johnson, who was prime minister when the deal was signed, said: “It is one of the only humane ways of dealing with the vile people trafficking gangs who are exploiting so many people.”

Then-home secretary Priti Patel urged ministers to “press ahead” with implementing the plan, adding: “No single policy will stop the Channel crossings, but this important policy will save lives, help break the business model of the criminal gangs and prevent asylum abuse.”

Meanwhile, Conservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke took aim at “left-wing organisations” and said they “need to stop using endless appeals to overturn democracy and waste taxpayers’ money. It’s time they accepted the determination of UK courts”.