Allister: Rwanda judgement 'yet another humiliation and savaging of UK sovereignty'

​The judgement demonstrates the impact of the Windsor Framework on the ability of the UK government to make national legislation which can apply in Northern Ireland.

The framework guarantees “no diminution of rights” which were applicable before Brexit – and the ruling confirms “full dynamic alignment” with new EU rights and an obligation on Northern Ireland courts to interpret them accordingly.

The challenge was brought by a 16 year old boy who had travelled from Iran seeking asylum.

Jim Allister said: “Once more our subservience to EU law, courtesy of the unaltered Protocol and despite the empty promises of HMG and the DUP, has been underscored by the High Court striking down key aspects of the Rwanda Bill - as it did with the Legacy Bill - because of its conflict with superior EU law and rights as embedded by Art 2 of the Protocol.

“Yet another humiliation and savaging of UK sovereignty as NI is again found to be an EU colony where the writ of Brussels, not London, runs. Here again the DUP’s ‘Safeguarding the Union’ document is exposed as a sham as its promises in paragraph 46 that the Rwanda Bill is untouched by the Protocol are shredded by the High Court.

“Now we not only have a trade partitioning Irish Sea border, but now an immigration border too, leaving NI wide open as a magnet for asylum seekers. It’s time the DUP disavowed its sell out document and got on the side of demanding, not diminishing, British sovereignty.”

The party says that the issue was not raised at the Assembly on Monday. A spokesperson said: “It is remarkable that no one from the DUP or UUP sought to raise this issue during Members’ Statements – a facility which exists to permit MLAs to raise matters at the start of Assembly business which aren’t on the order paper. Mr Allister tried to raise the matter but was not called by the Speaker. Indeed, the only reference to today’s judgement in the Assembly today was when Mr Allister raised it during question time to the Executive Office”