HOME Secretary James Cleverly has insisted the UK Government will deliver on the Rwanda deportation plan despite the Supreme Court ruling it is unlawful.

In a statement to the Commons, Cleverly said while the Government fully respects the decision, it does not "weaken our resolve to deter people from making these illegal, dangerous and unnecessary journeys".

Robert Reed, the president of the Supreme Court, focused on the principle of non-refoulement in his judgment. A core pillar of international asylum law, this states that people cannot be sent back to a country where they may face persecution, torture, or other degrading treatment.

The judge said the key test was whether there are “substantial grounds” for believing that there was a risk of people sent to Rwanda being wrongly deported to their country of origin, where they might face such persecution.

Reed said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had produced substantial evidence that Rwanda had a “failure to comply” with the principle of non-refoulement.

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But Cleverly – who only became Home Secretary two days ago – said the Government has a plan to give the court what it wants and insisted the judgment does not "dim our commitment" to the scheme.

The Home Secretary explained that the Government's plan is to "upgrade to a treaty" with Rwanda "as soon as possible".

He said: “Nothing in the Supreme Court judgment today dims our commitment.

"We anticipated this judgment as a possible result and for the last few months have been working on plan to provide the certainty the court demands.

"We have been working with Rwanda to build capacity and amend agreements to make clear that those sent there cannot be sent to another country than the UK.

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"Our intention is to upgrade our agreement to a treaty as soon as possible. That will make it clear that the risks laid out by the court today have been responded to.

"We have a plan to deliver the Rwanda deal and we will do whatever it takes to stop the boats.

"I can assure you that our commitment to ending illegal migration is unwavering. We are a positive outlier in Europe, our efforts are working, small boat crossings are down. We have done deals with multiple countries and will continue to do so.

"We are getting on with the job."

He said he would not put forward proposals "simply to manufacture an unnecessary row", which sparked laughs in the Commons.

Cleverly added that Rwanda was "ready and willing to help" as he insisted the Government's efforts to curb illegal migration are working. 

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the court's conclusions are "damning" and expose the "complete failure" of the flagship policy.

She added there is no serious plan to tackle either the dangerous boat crossings "that all of us want to see end" or the "chaos" in the asylum system.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has called for the policy to be scrapped.

He said: "We always knew that the Rwanda asylum policy from the UK Government was morally repugnant. We’ve now had it confirmed that it’s unlawful too.

"What we need is that policy to be scrapped and a humane asylum system put in place.”