Ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel and Minister Biruta sign the migration and economic development partnership between the UK and Rwanda.

Eirian Jones

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak won a vote in parliament on Tuesday over a new bill which he hopes will allow Britain to send asylum seekers who arrive illegally in Britain to Rwanda.

In November, the UK Supreme Court ruled the first Rwanda plan as unlawful because of the risk that asylum seekers could be returned to their home countries, where they could face harm.

In response, Sunak and his government created a new treaty with Rwanda, creating laws that declared Rwanda a safe country for refuge.

Sunak hopes the new legislation, when passed, will fulfil his pledge to stop people arriving across the Channel in small boats.

What does the new Rwanda bill entail and how will it affect UK immigration?

What Is Britain’s Rwanda Asylum Plan?

The Rwanda asylum plan, proposed in April 2022, is a five-year trial designed to deter migrants from making “illegal, dangerous or unnecessary” journeys to come to the UK, such as the journey in small boats across the Channel.

Under the plan, which was initially agreed by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, anyone arriving in the UK may be granted refugee status, as well as be granted permission to stay. But, if they are not granted refugee status, the plan would allow any migrant to apply to settle in the UK on other grounds, or seek asylum in another “safe third country.”

In effect, the government said that anyone who arrived “illegally” after 1 January 2022 could be sent to Rwanda in Africa.

As of December 2023, no asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda.

Is The Rwanda Asylum Plan Lawful?

The UK is a signatory of the UN Refugee Convention: the international human rights convention that defines who can benefit from refugee status and what rights and protection that status gives individuals. This requires the UK to consider the cases of people who arrive in the country seeking asylum.

However, it is currently extremely difficult to seek asylum in the UK, so people have increasingly arrived with the help of smugglers.

The government believes that those who have claimed asylum in France, or elsewhere in the EU, should not be refuged in the UK at all.

The first deportation flight under the Rwanda asylum scheme was scheduled to fly in June 2022. When UK lawyers advocated for the flights cancellation, High Court judges refused to grant interim relief, allowing the flight to go ahead.

However, just as the plane was being prepared for the runway, a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg blocked the take-off.

The court said British judges must be allowed time to fully assess the policy.

The case then moved to the Court of Appeal, as the government needed the scheme to be deemed lawful in order to go ahead.

The Ongoing Legal Battle

In late June 2023, the Court of Appeal ruled by a majority that there were too many issues with Rwanda’s asylum system. They feared that asylum seekers could be forced back to the country they had originally fled from. This would mean the UK could break its ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

One judge however, the then Lord Chief Justice, said this risk was unrealistic.

Fast forward to November 2023, the scheme was appealed again by the government and heard by the UK’s highest court, the Supreme Court.

Judges ruled unanimously that the scheme was unlawful. They believed that any refugees sent there would be at risk of being returned to their home countries and could face harm, which breaches the ECHR.

The judges also said the plan contravenes three other laws passed by Parliament during the last 30 years.

The court further stated its concern over Rwanda’s poor human rights record, and its past treatment of refugees.

Sunak’s New Rwanda Bill

To address the issues raised by the Supreme Court, Sunak has agreed a new treaty with Rwanda, making it clear that Rwanda is a safe country.

The legislation orders British judges and courts to ignore some sections of the UK Human Rights Act.

Asylum seekers would still be able to challenge their removal to Rwanda based on their personal circumstances. However, ministers have been told they can ignore any emergency orders from the European Court of Human Rights to suspend a flight to Rwanda while an individual legal case is being heard.

In December 2023, the bill passed its first debate and vote in Parliament. If eventually passed in full, Sunak says flights to Rwanda will begin early next year.

No Conservative MPs voted against the legislation, but around 30 chose not to abstain from voting.

The Labour Party has vowed to scrap the policy if it wins the next general election.

H0w Much Has The Rwanda Plan Cost The UK?

After becoming Prime Minister in October last year, Sunak made “stopping the boats” one of his top five priorities.

In August, the backlog of asylum applications waiting to be processed hit a record high of more than 134,000.

According to Reuters, the UK’s asylum system currently costs £3bn a year. About £8m a day is spent on hotel accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers.

In 2022, the government gave £140m to Rwanda. On 7 December, the Home Office confirmed that a further £100m was given to the country in 2023, with a payment of £50m “anticipated” in 2024.

Rwanda Deemed Unsafe for Asylum

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in east-central Africa, about 4,000 miles (6,500 km) southeast of the UK.

President Paul Kagame aims to win a fourth term in 2024, extending his time in office to nearly three decades. In the last election in 2017, he received nearly 99 per cent of the vote, but critics accuse him of suppressing those who opposed him.

Additionally, Human Rights Watch has stated: “Rwanda is a country where it’s very dangerous to oppose the government.”

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Featured image courtesy of Home Office via Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

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