Rishi Sunak will bring back Britain’s Bill of Rights as part of his bid to stop migrants crossing the English Channel, The Telegraph can reveal.
Ministers are set to introduce legislation to ensure the supremacy of UK courts over Strasbourg, after a legal challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights grounded the first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Downing Street sources have said that while the sweeping 44-page Bill of Rights is not a “silver bullet” to solving the migrant crisis, it would allow UK courts to ignore European case law more often.
It will also make it easier for the government to deport foreign criminals who claim their right to family life should trump public safety.
In September, Liz Truss dropped the same bill, with sources close to her describing it as a “complete mess” containing too many measures in one document.
Some members of the legal profession and human rights groups also opposed it, who described it as a “grab of power” by the state.
But the Bill of Rights was championed by Dominic Raab, who was reappointed to Cabinet as Justice Secretary by Mr Sunak after seven weeks on the bench while Ms Truss was in Downing Street.
On Saturday evening he said the bill would “inject a healthy dose of common sense back into the system and put an end to the abuse of our laws” and would “make it clear that the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is not subordinate to the European court of human rights”.
European decisions will no longer become case law
Although the bill does not directly address the issue of illegal migration, it does mean that interim injunctions issued by the Court of Strasbourg against the UK government will not become case law in Britain.
Officials believe migrants will be less likely to cross the Channel in small boats if they risk being sent to Rwanda, but the policy is on hold while it is challenged in British courts.
The bill is likely to be controversial in some quarters, after Tory MPs said the only way to resolve the row between Strasbourg and the UK courts was to leave the ECHR altogether.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has previously said that ‘ultimately we have to leave the European Convention on Human Rights’ and that it was her ‘dream’ and her ‘obsession’ to see a plane taking off for Rwanda containing asylum seekers.
But a Number 10 source said Mr Raab and Ms Braverman were ‘on the same page’ on the need to pass a bill of rights and highlighted comments she had made as attorney general where she supported the decision.
The legislation also contains measures allowing terrorists to be held in solitary confinement without a “right to socialization” and makes it more difficult for courts to order journalists to reveal their sources.
Ms Braverman issued a fresh warning that ‘the abuse of the system must stop’ in a Mail on Sunday article.
In another hint about changes to UK migration laws, she wrote: “Where national or international law interferes with our sovereign right to defend our borders, I will act.
“Many Albanians falsely claim to be victims of ‘modern slavery’ – despite having paid thousands of dollars to come here. This is an abuse of our system that must end.”
She insisted the system must focus on the ‘real victims of slavery’ and doubled down on her defense of the Rwandan project, adding: ‘This is the plan the British people want. I will implement it “.
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