Rwanda’s out – so what’s the government’s plan B?

Should the government go back to the drawing board, seek to ratify its Kigali plan in parliament – or pull out of the ECHR (and risk the Good Friday Agreement)? Andrew Grice assesses Rishi Sunak’s options to meet his ‘stop the boats’ promise

More than 25,000 people have been detected crossing the Channel in small boats so far in 2023 (In Pictures via Getty)

Another day, another setback for Rishi Sunak. It started well enough, with inflation falling to 4.6 per cent, delivering his pledge to halve it this year.

But the good news was eclipsed three hours later, by the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that the government’s controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful because there would be a risk of them being sent back to their home country.

This humiliating setback is a reminder that no one is above the law. The immoral attempt to send vulnerable to Rwanda – an unsafe land – shows the deep decay at the heart of today’s Conservative Party.