UK court deals blow to Shabana Mahmood’s migrant deportation scheme

Shabana Mahmood’s one-in, one-out deal has been thrown into chaos after migrants successfully argued deporting them was unlawful.

Britain’s High Court today backed the appeal of five Channel migrants who argued the Government was breaking the law in stripping them of a key right to appeal their deportations.

The individuals bringing the case - four from Eritrea and one from Sudan - had been targeted by the Home Office for deportation, or had already been deported. 

Three of the five migrants who challenged the policy had already been removed to France by the Home Office, but lawyers are now agitating to see them returned to Britain.

This came after the Home Secretary removed the right of migrants who had originally been rejected trafficking protections to appeal their ruling.

Those successfully claiming to have been trafficked would have a stronger case when fighting potential deportation under the one-in, one-out scheme.

But in a dramatic blow to the Home Secretary’s plans to crackdown on illegal crossings, the group’s barrister successfully claimed that the migrants’ fundamental rights ’could not be sacrificed for the sake of expediency and speed of decision-making or a desire to accelerate removals’.

And Justice Sheldon subsequently found that the Home Secretary had acted unlawfully by taking away the right for asylum seekers to have initially negative trafficking decisions reconsidered. 

He said: ’In my judgment such a decision-making process cannot be regarded as robust and effective.’

All five asylum seekers were given permission by the judge to proceed with their legal claims. 

But their successful bid to stay in Britain will now pave the way for more asylum seekers to fight their deportation under the terms of the deal.

The Home Office today said Ms Mahmood would ’fight this in the courts and appeal this judgement’. 

But shadow home secretary Chris Philp today branded the one-in, one-out deal a ’total failure’. 

He said: ’Labour have no plan and no idea how to get illegal migration under control, and Starmer’s pledge to smash the gangs is a dead letter.

’With Labour backbenchers lobbying against tougher measures, things are likely to get worse.

’We cannot allow migrants to use the courts to block their own deportation. The Conservatives are the only party with a BORDERS plan that will solve the crisis in the Channel, including by leaving the ECHR and deporting all illegal migrants.’

And Reform home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said the law as it stands ’no longer works in the interests of the British people’.

He said: ’Only by leaving the ECHR, repealing the Human Rights Act, and disapplying international legislation that activist judges use to frustrate deportation can we fix our broken asylum system and start deporting every single illegal migrant in this country.’   

As part of the agreement with France, small boat migrants can be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equal number of people who apply through a legal route.

The treaty has so far seen 921 small boat migrants deported to France, with Britain accepting 896 in return.

More than 200,000 migrants have illegally crossed the Channel since records began in 2018. 

But Labour backbenchers are seeking to thwart Ms Mahmood’s attempts to control illegal migration - with nearly 80 MPs writing to Andy Burnham urging him to water down the reforms.

In a letter to the incoming PM, they write the Home Secretary’s policies mean the party is ’losing progressive voters’. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: ’Last-minute modern slavery claims must not be used to frustrate the removal of illegal migrants.

’We are reforming our laws to stop dubious last-minute claims, while strengthening protections for those who need them.

’The Home Secretary will fight this in the courts and appeal this judgement.’