Category Archives: Priti Patel

UK to challenge court ruling that halted Rwanda deportations, says minister

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Thérèse Coffey says she is sure government will go back to European court of human rights over decision

The UK is likely to challenge the European court of human rights ruling that stopped the deportation to Rwanda of people seeking asylum and is already preparing for the next flight, a cabinet minister has said.

Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, played down the idea that the UK could withdraw from the European convention on human rights in response to the court’s decision, which halted the flight on Tuesday night.

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Rwanda deportation flight at risk despite loss of two late appeals

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Home Office source says individual legal cases mean too few people may be able to board plane anyway

Two last-ditch legal challenges that attempted to halt the inaugural flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda have been rejected by judges.

The court of appeal upheld a previous decision to reject an injunction blocking the first flight, which was due to take off for the east African state on Tuesday.

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Children deemed adults by Home Office could be deported to Rwanda

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Children’s and refugees charities raise concerns after detention of three children misjudged as adults in offshoring programme

Concerns are mounting that children wrongly assessed as adults by the Home Office could end up being offshored to Rwanda.

The Guardian understands that three age-disputed children who the Home Office declared to be adults and detained in preparation for offshoring to Rwanda have now been released. It is understood that concerns have been raised about whether at least three more detainees threatened with removal to the east African country are children rather than adults.

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Unions call for delay to Rwanda policy until legal position fully tested

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Appeal against plan to remove asylum seekers who arrive in the UK via unofficial routes due to take place on Monday

Protests have taken place before a possible first flight removing asylum seekers to Rwanda, as unions said that officials should not be asked to take part in a policy that may subsequently be declared illegal.

With the first flight in the deportation scheme scheduled to take place on Tuesday evening, activists also promised to target the Spanish charter airline understood to be providing the aircraft.

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Hundreds gather in Manchester to oppose Rwanda deportation plan

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Protesters march in city centre as anger grows over Priti Patel’s refugee scheme

Hundreds of Mancunians – many of them from charities, campaign groups and religious organisations – gathered in the city’s St Peter’s Square on Sunday to protest against the government’s plan to deport refugees to Rwanda.

With just two days to go before the first refugees are due to board flights to the central African country, the protest was one of a number taking place across the UK, and was happening amid further legal challenges after the high court ruled last week that the flights can go ahead.

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UK deportation flight to Rwanda can go ahead, high court judge rules

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Judge refuses to grant interim relief after lawyers for asylum seekers argued policy was unlawful

A high court judge has ruled that a controversial deportation flight to Rwanda that was due to take off early next week can go ahead.

Mr Justice Swift refused to grant interim relief – urgent action in response to an injunction application made by several asylum seekers facing offshoring to Rwanda.

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Home Office misled refugees about UN involvement in Rwanda plans, court told

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Letters to asylum seekers assured them UNHCR was ‘closely involved’ in deportation scheme, high court hears

The United Nations refugee agency has made a dramatic intervention to try to halt Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In a late submission of evidence, the UNHCR claimed the home secretary misled refugees over the organisation’s support for the plan. The agency has also said the scheme failed to meet the required standards of “legality and appropriateness” for transferring asylum seekers from one country to another.

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Home Office’s Rwanda deportation plans face high court challenge

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About 30 asylum seekers expected to be sent to Rwanda on 14 June

Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as soon as next week is facing a legal challenge under emergency proceedings launched in the high court on Wednesday.

An application for a judicial review claims that the home secretary’s policy is unlawful. Claimants are also seeking an injunction that will attempt to stop the plane from taking off.

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Number of people to reach UK in small boats in 2022 nears 10,000

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People continuing to cross Channel to reach UK, figures show, with a vessel of 40 brought ashore on Friday

Nearly 10,000 people have arrived in the UK on small boats from across the Channel so far this year, according to new government figures.

A total of 9,988 have reached the UK after leaving the French coast in vessels such as dinghies since New Year’s Day.

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First Rwanda deportation flight to leave UK on 14 June, says Priti Patel

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Group of asylum seekers sent formal notices advising they will be relocated to east African country, say officials

The first deportation flight to Rwanda carrying people who arrived in the UK without authorisation is scheduled to leave on 14 June, Priti Patel has announced.

A group of asylum seekers has been sent formal notices by the Home Office advising they will be relocated to the east African country, officials have said.

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Grenfell families ‘enraged’ by plan to keep ‘stay put’ policy

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Grenfell United criticises Home Office papers outlining reason for retaining policy against inquiry recommendations

Bereaved relatives of the Grenfell Tower blaze have said they are “enraged” by government plans to keep the controversial “stay put” policy instead of adopting an inquiry recommendation.

Grenfell United has criticised new Home Office papers which outline its reasons for retaining the policy – meaning that residents of most buildings should wait for rescue services rather than leaving in the event of a fire.

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Private papers show extent of row between Patel and police leaders

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Home Office plans have been described as a power grab by chief constables and crime commissioners

The home secretary faces fresh criticism over plans described by chief constables and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) as a “power grab”.

It comes as the Guardian publishes private documents at the centre of an extraordinary row between Priti Patel and police leaders.

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Priti Patel accused of ‘power grab’ over new policing proposals

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Exclusive: chief constables and commissioners criticise plans to make it easier for home secretary to intervene

Police leaders have accused Priti Patel of a “power grab” that would allow the home secretary to intervene in local law enforcement matters and silence chiefs who want to speak out on issues deemed politically sensitive.

An extraordinary row has broken out behind the scenes, with police bosses accusing Patel of trying to obtain new powers without parliamentary approval.

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Priti Patel lifts restrictions on police stop and search powers

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Home secretary announces the end of limitations on use of section 60 powers where serious violence anticipated

The government is lifting restrictions placed on police stop and search powers in areas where they anticipate violent crime, the home secretary has announced.

In a letter to police forces on Monday, Priti Patel outlined the easing of conditions on the use of the tactics under section 60 of the criminal justice and public order act.

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Ukraine refugees who enter UK via Ireland may be sent to Rwanda, MPs told

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Minister also refuses to say whether Ukrainians who cross Channel in small boats could be sent to Africa

Undocumented people who travel from Ukraine to the UK via Ireland could be considered for removal to Rwanda, a senior Home Office official has told MPs.

During the same select committee hearing, a minister refused to say under repeated questioning whether Ukrainians who arrive in the UK across the Channel by boat could also be sent to the central African country.

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Priti Patel blames lawyers as she admits Rwanda plan will ‘take time’

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Home secretary attacks ‘specialist lawyers’ as Labour calls delayed plan little more than a press release

Priti Patel has admitted that it will take time to establish the government’s high-profile plan to send people who arrive in the UK without authorisation to Rwanda, amid growing suspicion that it will not solve the migration crisis in the Channel.

In a further attack on the legal profession, the home secretary blamed “specialist lawyers” as the main reason for the delays in setting up the scheme.

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Priti Patel’s Rwanda plan for UK asylum seekers faces its first legal challenge

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Home secretary is violating international law, the UN refugee convention and data protection rules, say lawyers

The first legal action has been launched against Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as the UN’s refugee agency raised concerns that the UK is “inviting” other European countries to adopt the same divisive immigration policy.

Lodged last Tuesday, the legal challenge states that the home secretary’s proposals run contrary to international law and the UN refugee convention, as well as breaching British data protection law.

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Activists disrupt Priti Patel speech in protest against Rwanda refugee plan

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Green New Deal Rising campaigners were escorted from the dinner to chants of ‘out, out, out’

A speech by the home secretary, Priti Patel, was disrupted on Friday evening after pro-refugee activists infiltrated a Conservative party “spring dinner”.

Eight young social justice and climate campaigners from Green New Deal Rising disrupted the Bassetlaw Conservative Association Spring Dinner and demanded she drop controversial plans to offshore asylum seekers to Rwanda.

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Priti Patel’s Rwanda asylum seeker plan faces first legal challenge

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Charity Freedom from Torture says it has ‘serious concerns’ about lawfulness of policy

Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is facing its first legal challenge after a charity instructed lawyers to demand the disclosure of documents because of fears the policy is contrary to international law.

In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, which is expected to lead to a judicial review claim, the solicitors Leigh Day stated that the charity Freedom from Torture “has serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy”.

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‘Unsafe’ UK accommodation threatens asylum seekers’ health – report

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Exclusive: poor healthcare and conditions at sites such as Napier worsen mental and physical illness, Doctors of the World says

Asylum seekers’ accommodation is “unsafe” due to inadequate healthcare, while poor living conditions are exacerbating or creating mental and physical health problems, according to a new report by Doctors of the World.

The charity’s research, published on Wednesday, details the barriers to medical care and medication for asylum seekers in initial accommodation across the UK.

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