In forming their judgment on the legality of the government’s Rwanda refugee deportation scheme, the High Court was not asked to decide whether it was humane or practical or value for money.
If judges had decided on those questions, then they might have agreed it is none of those things. But that’s not their job, of course. Their job is to judge the plan against the law. Not so surprisingly, on the evidence before them, they found that the government’s policy was lawful.
There may be appeals to higher courts by human rights groups, and the High Court did find against the then-home secretary, Priti Patel, for not considering properly the individual circumstances of eight individuals who were due to be flown to Kigali. That said, the courts have given a clear indication that the government can get on with implementing its policy in theory (though several judicial review hearings and anticipated appeals lie ahead, so no flights will be taking place just yet).
