The Home Secretary has said she is “committed” to sending migrants to Rwanda as soon as possible after judges ruled the multi-million pound deal to curb Channel crossings was lawful.
Suella Braverman told MPs the High Court judgment “thoroughly vindicated” the Government’s policy – which she insisted is “compassionate”, “pragmatic” and “rational”.
Several court challenges were brought against the proposals announced by then-home secretary Priti Patel in April, which she described as a “world-first agreement” with the East African nation to deter people from making the journey across the Channel to the UK.
The first deportation flight – due to take off on June 14 – was then grounded amid a series of objections against individual removals while the legality of the entire policy was also contested.
But at a hearing on Monday, senior judges rejected arguments that the plans to provide asylum seekers with one-way tickets to Rwanda were unlawful.
Lord Justice Lewis, sitting with Mr Justice Swift, dismissed the challenges against the policy as a whole, but ruled in favour of eight asylum seekers, finding the Government had acted wrongly in their individual cases.
Clips of Yvette Cooper demolishing the scheme in parliament have been making the rounds on social media.
Watch the full 5-minute clip below: