Watch out – the Tories will use their Rwanda ‘win’ to dismantle the law that protects your human rights

This government has long played fast and loose with the law, says Helena Kennedy. Its plan to deport asylum seekers to Kigali, in the face of advice that it would breach international conventions, is the latest example of our justice system being critically undermined – but it won’t be the last

Baroness Kennedy: ‘After 14 years of Conservative government, our justice system is on its knees’ (PA)

Ahead of what turned out to be a pivotal day for the government’s Rwanda bill, Suella Braverman made a sudden return to the front line of public life earlier this week, with a characteristically abrasive appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

It was not the former home secretary’s unvarnished criticism of Rishi Sunak’s “fatally flawed” legislation that caused my hackles to rise, or her refusal to be drawn on whether she would back a leadership challenge against him. It was when Braverman said that no asylum seeker arriving in the UK in a small boat should have access to the courts – and that we should leave the ECHR and its court.

Braverman may no longer be in government, but as one of the loudest cheerleaders for the Rwanda idea (at least until she was sacked), her interventions and continuing influence in the party means she still informs its direction of travel.