Illegal Migration Bill: Interim injunctions nullified as PM caves to right-wing rebels

Illegal Migration Bill: Interim injunctions nullified as PM caves to right-wing rebels

Judges in Strasbourg will be unable to block migrant deportations after the UK government agreed to amend the Illegal Migration Bill to allow ministers to ignore interim injunctions.

The Rule 39 orders of the European Court of Human Rights were used to suspend the first scheduled deportation flight to Rwanda in June last year.

But now the government has conceded to the Conservative Party’s rebels and has also included provisions to stop UK courts from granting injunctions to prevent migrants being deported – apart from in very limited circumstances.

The Home Office agreed to modify the bill to ensure that only those illegal migrants who face a “real risk of serious and irreversible harm” can avoid being removed from the UK.

The amendments are due to be published today before the bill returns to the Commons for its next stage.

In exchange for the two concessions, right-wing Tories have agreed they will not table additional amendments. A group of some 60 MPs were threatening to support a series of changes to strengthen the bill after claiming that the legislation would be insufficient to fulfil Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.

One said: “A week ago nobody thought this was possible but in the final moments, Suella has come up with a deal that we can all get around.”

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