The UK government has U-turned on its plans to turn back small boats of migrants crossing the English Channel, ahead of a judicial review that was scheduled for May 3.
Human rights campaigners had argued that the practice of having Border Force patrols intercept and return migrant boats to France would be inhumane and constitute a danger to life, as well as questioning the legal authority of border patrol teams to carry out such acts.
But with the government having now reneged on its plans, the High Court challenge set for early May has been withdrawn.
The PCS civil servants’ union, which was among the groups behind the legal challenge, called the government's change of direction “humiliating”.
The union’s general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “This humiliating climbdown by the government is a stunning victory for Home Office workers and for refugees.
“PCS is proud to have brought this legal action alongside refugee groups in order to prevent this morally reprehensible and utterly inhumane proposal from ever seeing the light of day. There is little doubt that lives have been saved.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office separately insisted that it was “right” for the government to have considered “all safe and legal options” to prevent the “unnecessary” Channel crossings, including “turning boats around”.
The spokesperson added: “As we have set out previously, this tactic fully complies with both domestic and international law. However, there are extremely limited circumstances when you can safely turn boats back in the English Channel.”
Last week, the government set out details of its plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda in a bid to deter the deadly Channel crossings. The plans are also facing opposition from human rights campaigners.
At the same stage, ministers also tasked the Royal Navy with intercepting migrant boats, but the latter confirmed that “push back tactics” would not be used.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
