Suella Braverman: No flights before election under PM's Rwanda plan

The PM's current plan will mean no asylum seekers are flown to Rwanda before the next election, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said.

Writing in the Telegraph, she said "tinkering with a failed plan" would not achieve the government's aims.

The Supreme Court ruled the Rwanda policy was unlawful on Wednesday.

Hours later, Rishi Sunak announced plans for emergency legislation and a new treaty with Rwanda, so that the first flights can leave in spring.

But Mrs Braverman said a new treaty would not solve "the fundamental issue" with the plan.

In her first detailed response to the ruling, Mrs Braverman, who was sacked as home secretary on Monday, said that unless the prime minister went further than his current proposals she could not see how the government could deliver on its pledge before running out of Parliamentary time.

"To try and deliver flights to Rwanda under any new treaty would still require going back through the courts, a process that would likely take at least another year," she said.

"That process could culminate in yet another defeat, on new grounds, or on similar grounds to Wednesday: principally, that judges can't be certain Rwanda will abide by the terms of any new treaty."

A general election is expected to be held next year and one must be called by January 2025.

Mrs Braverman said that to prevent further legal challenges, the PM's proposed legislation should ignore "the entirety" of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as other relevant international obligations, including the Refugee Convention. This would prevent migrants bringing legal challenges that their rights have been breached, she said.

Mrs Braverman also argued the UK must take practical steps to improve Rwanda's asylum system, for example by embedding UK observers or independent reviewers of asylum decisions there.

In rhetoric tamer than her recent public interventions, she said there was "no reason" to criticise Supreme Court judges for their ruling.

Instead, she blamed "the politicians who have failed to introduce legislation that would guarantee delivery of our Rwanda partnership".

The prime minister says the new treaty would guarantee that Rwanda would not send migrants back to countries where they could be persecuted or harmed. He is also proposing legislation to certify that Rwanda is a "safe" country - despite the Supreme Court's findings.

The Rwanda policy is central to Mr Sunak's plan to stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats - one of his key pledges.