Whitehall union challenges Rwanda law

Tom Hickman KC, for the union, told the High Court senior civil servants did not oppose the Rwanda scheme, as their duty was to serve the government of the day.

But the new version of the plan had left them in an unclear and potentially unlawful position.

The Civil Service code, external required officials to abide by domestic laws – those passed by Parliament – and international laws the UK had joined, including the European Convention on Human Rights, which the ECtHR oversees.

The government could have rewritten the Civil Service code to tell officials to ignore interim ECtHR rulings but had not done so.

“International law is no less important than domestic law,” Mr Hickman said.

“The UK is a fully subscribed member of the international-law club – and international law is fundamental to the stability of the international community.

“They [ministers] want to refuse to implement an interim measure [of the European Court of Human Rights] while wanting to maintain the appearance that international law is being complied with.”