New UK leadership abandons plans for bill of rights, stalls Rwanda deportation plan

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’ government Wednesday abandoned plans to proceed with a UK bill of rights. The plans, first proposed by outgoing Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab, would have replaced the Human Rights Act of 1998 and given legal supremacy to the UK Supreme Court, allowing it to disregard rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Truss dismissed Raab and replaced him with Brandon Lewis on Tuesday after taking over as UK Prime Minister. Raab was the primary driver behind the passage of the proposed bill of rights. With his dismissal, Truss told cabinet officials she would reassess the UK’s path forward on the issue.

The bill of rights was first introduced in parliament in June and would have significantly reduced individuals’ ability to claim human rights law violations against the government. Additionally, the proposed changes would have massive implications for the UK’s Rwanda deportation policy, under which the UK seeks to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda if they do not voluntarily leave the UK. Shortly before the first deportations under the policy were set to occur, the ECHR issued an interim measure and halted the action.