Raab says scrapping Human Rights Act will let government send migrants to Rwanda
Justice secretary Dominic Raab has said scrapping the Human Rights Act will allow the government to begin successfully sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Speaking to the BBC, Raab blamed the UK’s Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 for blocking this week’s Rwanda flight, as he said the government’s plans to replace the HRA with a new UK Bill of Rights would address the issue “squarely”.
The comments come as the UK government pushes forwards with plans to scrap the 1998 act, which enshrines the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law.
On the BBC, Raab said the Court of Appeal’s interpretation of the ECHR had blocked the flight to Rwanda, as he said scrapping the HRA, whilst still staying in the ECHR, would prevent similar situations from happening in the future.
The Deputy Prime Minister suggested the government could ignore the ECHR, once the Bill of Rights is in place, as he hit out at the Strasbourg Court over claims they have not “stuck to their mandate more clearly”.