New guidance announces discontinuance of inadmissibility actions, with all claims to receive a substantive asylum decision
In brief new Home Office guidance issued today, the Government has announced the termination of inadmissibility actions related to the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) with Rwanda.
Image credit: UK GovernmentThe decision affects asylum seekers who arrived in the UK on or after 1 January 2022 and were informed before 29 June 2023 of potential removal to Rwanda under the MEDP. The Home Office said in an April 2024 impact assessment that Rwanda had in principle agreed to accept 5,700 asylum seekers. The Home Office has now committed to substantively considering the merits of all their asylum claims.
The MEDP, initiated in April 2022, aimed to relocate certain asylum seekers to Rwanda for claim processing. However, the policy faced significant legal obstacles. In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court ruled the plan was unlawful, citing concerns about the safety of asylum seekers relocated to Rwanda.
Upon taking office, the Labour government formally abandoned the Rwanda policy, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer declaring in July 2024 that the scheme was "dead and buried before it started". Starmer called it a gimmick and said it had never served as an effective deterrent to irregular migration.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the Conservative government's expenditure on the scheme, revealing that over £700 million had been spent, including £290 million paid to the Rwandan government. Only four volunteers were sent to Rwanda under the MEDP. Cooper called it a "grotesque waste of money" for the British taxpayer.
Today's new Home Office guidance states:
By way of update on the status of this group of asylum claims, the Home Office has discontinued inadmissibility action and is committed to substantively considering the merits of the asylum claims (these concern individuals who arrived in the UK on or after 1 January 2022 and who were issued notices before 29 June 2023, informing them that they may be removed to Rwanda).
There remain a diminishing number of asylum claims in this group that are pending decision. The Home Office confirms that work is progressing and will continue until all claims have received a substantive asylum decision. Whilst a rigid timeframe for completion cannot be given, it is estimated that all workable cases should be finalised by the end of the year at the latest.