UK to Publish Summary of Rwanda Deportation Plan Legal Advice

(Bloomberg) -- The UK government will publish a summary of the legal advice it received on its controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda later on Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters in London.

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The advice relates to legislation the government advanced last week designating Rwanda a “safe” country for deportees — despite the view of British courts that it isn’t — and cutting off routes of appeal for asylum seekers to challenge their deportation, by waiving elements of human rights law.

The UK government doesn’t typically publish the legal advice it receives around planned policy, but in this instance, Blain said it will be released due to “significant public interest.”

“This is a summary of the legal advice, rather than full legal advice,” Blain said. “I don’t believe this is the first time the government has published summaries.”

Elements of the advice were already leaked to British newspapers in recent days, with the Times newspaper reporting late Friday that government lawyers believe the plan only has a “50 percent at best” chance of allowing deportation flights to take off before a general election that’s widely expected next year.

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