UK PM ready to sign new Rwanda asylum deal after Supreme Court defeat

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday he would sign a new treaty with Rwanda to resurrect his plans to send asylum seekers to the East African country after the Supreme Court rejected an original scheme as unlawful.

Some politicians in the governing Conservative Party challenged Sunak to find a way to revive what has been a centrepiece of the government’s immigration plan, and a handful warned he could face a potential leadership challenge.

Sunak said that the government was already working on a new treaty with Rwanda that would address the points made by the court and, if necessary, he would rewrite domestic legislation.

That raises the prospect of the government seeking to alter Britain’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights and other international treaties that stood in the way of the policy being deemed lawful by British courts.

“The government has already been working in advance on a new treaty with Rwanda, which we will finalise in light of today’s judgment,” Sunak told parliament.

“If it becomes clear that our domestic legal frameworks or international conventions are still frustrating plans at that point, I am prepared to change our laws.” The new treaty with Rwanda would be brought to parliament in the coming days and this would provide the necessary “reassurances” to address the Supreme Court’s concerns about Rwanda’s asylum system, Sunak’s spokesman said.