Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Supreme Court judgment on the use of Rwanda for extradition of those seeking asylum who arrive to the UK by irregular routes, what assessment if any they have made of each of the countries listed in Schedule 1 to the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Countries or territories to which a person may be removed) to determine if they have any similar features as laid out in the Supreme Court's judgment and therefore would make them illegal to send asylum seekers too.

The list of countries in Schedule 1 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is an amalgamation of the lists of safe counties currently set out in section 94(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004 with the addition of the Republic of Rwanda and the exclusion of Ukraine. The Home Office regularly reviews country situations and the countries listed have been found to be safe.

The Government is considering the outcome of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) with Rwanda and its application to the Illegal Migration Act, including the Schedule 1 list. If we were to seek to remove a third country national to any of the countries listed under Schedule 1, they would have the opportunity to raise if they would have a risk of serious and irreversible harm if removed to that country. An individual would not be removed to that country if it was found that there was such a risk.