Fury as court in Northern Ireland stops its asylum-seekers being deported to Rwanda

A COURT in Northern Ireland today stopped the province’s asylum-seekers from being deported to Rwanda.

PM Rishi Sunak vowed to appeal the ruling, insisting it would not distract from his plans of getting the first Africa flights off within weeks.

The High Court in Belfast said the UK’s Illegal Migration Act should be disapplied in Northern Ireland as it waters down asylum seekers’ rights.

Under post-Brexit arrangements, Northern Ireland must not stray from protections agreed in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

But Mr Justice Michael Humphreys said parts of the Act did so — and were also in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It came hours after Mr Sunak warned Strasbourg judges will not stop him pushing through the removal scheme.

Describing illegal migration as the “defining challenge of our age”, he said: “I know that our international frameworks are outdated.

“So there may be flash points ahead with the ECHR and if the Strasbourg Court make me choose between the ECHR and this country’s security, I will choose our country’s security every single time.”

The Belfast ruling enraged unionists who claimed they had been effectively “left trapped in the EU”.

The Illegal Migration Act, passed last year, prevents any illegal arrivals from claiming asylum in the UK.

It allows for them to be detained and deported home or to a safe third country like Rwanda, where Mr Sunak hopes to send the first migrants from July.

The first asylum seekers earmarked for Kigali have already been detained, with the PM tonight insisting the High Court ruling will not stop the planes.