The prime minister turned ‘foul’ with Number 10 staff after the Supreme Court struck down the government’s Rwanda migration scheme, a source has revealed.
The UK’s highest court ruled against Rishi Sunak’s plans to deport all illegal migrants to Rwanda, saying it breached at least five UK laws and four international conventions.
This led to Mr Sunak becoming ‘furious’, despite the news inflation had halved.
‘For 46 minutes, government good news led BBC News,’ one official told The Times.
‘Then the ruling came – joy turned to despair. Confusion and chaos reigned.
‘Number 10 were firing in loads of questions to the Home Office, asking random questions on figures such as arrests and deportations.
‘They were just trying to get through the day.’
But Mr Sunak announced the government will introduce emergency legislation to get flights to Rwanda off the ground.
In a press conference on Wednesday evening, he said this new legislation will enable parliament to ‘confirm’ that ‘Rwanda is safe’ and end a ‘merry-go-round’ of legal challenges.
He added the government is working on a new international treaty with Rwanda, which will ‘provide a guarantee in law that those who are relocated from the UK to Rwanda will be protected against removal from Rwanda and it will make clear that we will bring back anyone if ordered to do so by a court’.
It followed Mr Sunak sacking Suella Braverman as home secretary and the subsequent cabinet reshuffle, which included the surprise appointment of David Cameron as foreign secretary.
New home secretary James Cleverly confirmed the government still plans to run deportation flights to Rwanda in the future, after the Supreme Court ruled they currently cannot go ahead.
The controversial scheme forms a cornerstone of Rishi Sunak’s flagship promise to ‘stop the boats’, with ministers arguing the prospect of deportation would act as a deterrent to drive down the number of people crossing the English Channel.
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