Rwanda plan could be delayed as civil servants sue Government over law breach

The union for senior civil servants has launched a legal challenge against Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan over moves to force officials to break international law to carry out deportations.

The FDA warned the Government has created a conflict of interest for civil servants as they could be ordered by ministers to ignore European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) injunctions to carry out deportations, but have a duty under the Civil Service code to abide by the law.

If the union is successful with its legal challenge, it could likely see the Government ordered to remove the conflict by holding a parliamentary vote to either specify in law that the UK will ignore the injunctions, rather than simply giving ministers the power to do so, or to amend the Civil Service code to remove officials’ obligations to comply with the law.

Such votes are expected to be tricky for Rishi Sunak, with moderate Conservatives understood to be wary of breaking the law to enact the plan, and could therefore delay the beleaguered policy even further than the two years it has already been held up by legal wrangling.

Writing for i, FDA general secretary Dave Penman said the legal conflict was a result of the Government “fudging” the Safety of Rwanda Act to balance “competing factions” in the Tory Party – “some gung-ho on ignoring international law, and some believing those commitments are sacrosanct”.

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“This means it’s left to ministers to decide [whether to ignore the ECtHR) rather than Parliament, placing civil servants in the invidious position of facing a legal conflict between the instructions of ministers and their obligations under the Civil Service Code.

“This vague constitutional hinterland is the last thing civil servants want. On a controversial policy like Rwanda, there are already siren voices accusing civil servants of trying to undermine the settled will of government. That’s why it was vital that the government provided clarity.

“But instead, their way out of a political bind was to recklessly dump it in the lap of civil servants.”

Mr Penman said the union was not taking the legal actin “lightly” but urged the Government to provide “clear blue water on controversial issues like this, to avoid such conflicts”.

He added: “Civil servants know when they sign up that they have a duty to serve the government of the day. If you work in the Home Office you know that, regardless of the political persuasion of the government, you’re likely to be asked to implement some controversial policies.

“But in doing so, as an absolute minimum, you must have confidence that you’re not being asked to break the Civil Service Code.”

The dispute has arisen because the Prime Minister’s Safety of Rwanda Act, passed into law last week, gives ministers the power to ignore so-called “rule 39” interim injunctions from the ECtHR of the kind that grounded the first attempt at a deportation flight in June 2022.

On Monday, officials were told not to obstruct a minister’s decision to ignore the Strasbourg court in a letter from Darren Tienrey, the director general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office, to Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft.

But the FDA said that neither ministers nor guidance can overrule the obligation under the Civil Service code to comply with the law, and that only an Act of Parliament can remove the conflict of interest.

i understands the Home Office continues to work towards the first deportation flight in 9-11 weeks, as set out by the Prime Minister last week.

A source close to Home Secretary James Cleverly said: ““We are focused on operationalising the Rwanda scheme. We will remain fully focused on delivering regular flights in the timescale laid out by the Prime Minister”

The Home Office has been asked for a response.