The supreme court in the UK has ruled against the the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, describing it as unlawful.
The U.K.’s final court of appeal on Wednesday dismissed a challenge by the U.K. government to an earlier finding that its flagship policy was unlawful.
In its judgment, the Supreme Court said it agreed with the Court of Appeal that there was a “real risk” the U.K.’s plan would lead to asylum seekers being sent back to their home countries by Rwandan authorities without due process.
Sunak had promised to use the policy to get tough on migration as an election looms.
He is under major pressure from the right of his governing Conservative Party to do more to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Sunak’s government wants to deport people who make “dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys” to the U.K. to the east African nation for their asylum claims to be processed and decided by Rwandan authorities.
It has already struck a multi-million pound deal with Rwanda to make that happen, but no flights have yet taken off.