(Bloomberg) -- A trade union that represents civil servants lost its bid to challenge the UK’s Rwanda deportation policy on the same day that a Labour government swept to power after 14 years in opposition.

The policy to deport asylum seekers to the African nation was a key part of former Rishi Sunak’s election campaign and his pledge to “stop the boats.” labour’s Keir Starmer previously vowed to scrap the controversial policy once in power. 

London judges rejected the challenge to the plan brought by the FDA after they argued that the former Conservative government’s guidance to civil servants ignore human rights law was unlawful. The High Court judges disagreed. 

The challenge was one of two key cases against the policy in the UK. Another case brought by asylum seekers is yet to be ruled on.

The legislation allowed ministers to waive some elements of international human rights law in the UK, though it stopped short of disapplying the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court in Strasbourg oversees.

The court has given clarity that the then-government was explicit enough about the intent to break international law, the FDA said in a statement following the ruling. “No government should ever put the civil service in this position.’

 

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