Paused asylum claims will be dealt with ‘as a priority’, High Court told

The legal claims of several migrants once threatened with deportation to Rwanda could be resolved within a week after the Government pledged to process “paused” asylum applications “as a priority”, the High Court has been told.

Asylum seekers who arrived in the UK between January 1, 2022 and June 29, 2023 had been threatened with removal under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) signed with the east African country by the former Conservative government, a judge was told.

In February, the Home Office said asylum applications of those who could be removed had previously been “paused” amid legal challenges over the Rwanda scheme.

The plan was scrapped by the Labour Government shortly after it was elected earlier this month, but some migrants had already begun legal action over the so-called “pause policy”.

A preliminary hearing in London on Friday was due to hear the progress of the claims of two asylum seekers taking legal action, with the court previously told the Home Office had acted unlawfully by delaying its decision over their applications.

The court heard the new Government has pledged to process asylum claims of the “MEDP cohort”.

Alex Goodman KC, representing one of the asylum seekers on Friday, told the court the Home Office said on Tuesday that everybody who had launched a legal challenge against their proposed removal “would be admitted to the asylum process”.

He continued that on Thursday, the Home Office said “everybody in the MEDP cohort would now be admitted to the asylum system”, and their asylum claims would be “dealt with as a priority”.

Mr Goodman previously told the court in written submissions that the so-called “pause” policy applied to “many thousands” of claims for asylum.

The hearing was told one of the asylum seekers had agreed to settle their claim through a court order, which could then be applied to several others who were also taking legal action.

The judge, Mrs Justice Collins Rice, said it was “hugely desirable for everyone to settle on the same terms” and said she hoped for other legal cases to be “dealt with by the end of next week”.

Kate Grange KC, for the Home Office, said in written submissions that the new Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, “has been giving careful consideration on how to manage the MEDP cohort” since being appointed to the role and decided that all of their asylum applications will be “substantively determined in the UK”.

She added that the Home Secretary could not provide a “hard deadline” by which the claims will be determined, as each case “will depend on specific factors”.

In a statement following the hearing, a spokesperson for the Home Secretary said: “These people are already in the asylum system and were never going to be sent to Rwanda.

“Keeping them in the asylum system for the last two years regardless of the validity of their claims, many in paid accommodation, has already cost the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds.

“That is in addition to the extortionate waste on the MEDP and on these legal costs.

“We have been clear that we will clear the Tories’ chaotic asylum backlog, reducing hotel use and ensuring those with no right to stay are actually removed back to their home country.”

While in government, the Tories had pledged a “regular rhythm of flights every month” to Rwanda in their election offering, with the High Court previously told the first flight had been planned for July 24.

The plan, which was hit with several legal challenges, would have enabled the government to send migrants who did not have a right to remain in the country to Rwanda if they had “arrived in the UK through an illegal and dangerous route” since 2022.

No-one was involuntarily deported under the scheme, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer describing the MEDP as “dead and buried before it started”.

The MEDP will only formally end three months after one government informs the other in writing.