Government's Rwanda plan for migrants 'unlawful', UK's Supreme Court rules

Britain's Supreme Court has ruled that the government's contentious plan to send some migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda is illegal.

Five justices on the country's top court said Wednesday that asylum-seekers would be "at real risk of ill-treatment" because they could be sent back to their home countries once they were in Rwanda.

The ruling is a major blow to a key government policy that has drawn international attention and criticism.

Britain and Rwanda signed a deal in April 2022 to send some migrants who arrive in the UK across the English Channel to the East African country, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay.

No one has yet been sent to the country as the plan was challenged in the courts.

The ruling is a major setback to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's promise to stop migrants arriving without permission on the south coast of the country in small boats from Europe.