Rwanda bill: Cleverly says Supreme Court’s concerns have been ‘conclusively answered’

Delivering a statement to the House of Commons this evening, home secretary James Cleverly declared that the concerns of the Supreme Court over the government’s Rwanda deportations scheme have been “conclusively answered”.

He said: “Today, I can inform the House that [the court’s] concerns have been conclusively answered and those changes made as a result of intensive diplomacy by the prime minister, by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, by the Attorney General’s Office, and of course by the Home Office for the purpose of the Bill”.

The new bill declares that Rwanda is “safe” for all relevant purposes. Cleverly explained: “A safe country is defined as one to which people may be removed from the UK in compliance with all of the United Kingdom’s obligations under international law that are relevant to the treatment in that country of people who are removed.

He added: “It means that someone removed to that country will not be removed or sent to another country in contravention of any international law”.

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