18 March 2023 , 20:32
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Suella Braverman’s migrant rules were blasted by a judge who was as confused as a character from Alice in Wonderland.
Her Honour Melissa Canavan quoted from Lewis Carroll’s book when she rejected a deportation bid by the Home Secretary.
The judge said legal rules were so poorly written they may “lack the clarity of law”.
She quoted a line from Alice, when the Eaglet says: “Speak English!... I don’t know the meaning of half of those long words, and what’s more, I don’t believe you do either!”
The judge said post-Brexit settlement rules were “barely comprehensible even to experienced legal professionals, including the Secretary of State’s own representatives”.
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Ms Braverman is in Rwanda, promoting the Tories’ controversial plan to deport refugees there (PA)The damning criticism came at a London tribunal appeal after Ms Braverman fought a decision to allow an academic the right to remain in the country. Judge Canavan said aspects of the EU Settlement Scheme “if anything, increase the complexity and construct even higher barriers to comprehension”.
She referred to “incoherence of the rules”, adding: “It cannot be said the judge’s attempted interpretation was irrational. The Secretary of State has failed to show how or why her finding amounted to an error of law.”
Immigration lawyer Blair Melville said later: “The Home Office is often criticised in court, particularly around complexity of rules, and often nothing changes. Year after year more families are separated, more money is lost.”
Ms Braverman was yesterday in Rwanda, gleefully promoting her plan to deport refugees there.
The scheme faces fierce criticism but some media outlets, including the Mirror, the Guardian and the BBC, were not invited on the publicly funded trip.