Yahoo News Rwanda ruling live updates: James Cleverly denies calling asylum plan 'bats**t'
The new home secretary has said Rishi Sunak could rush emergency legislation through Parliament 'in days'
The home secretary has denied describing the Rwanda policy as “bats**t” and said Rishi Sunak's government could push through pass emergency legislation to revive the plan within days.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has claimed James Cleverly used the term in private to describe the government's controversial asylum plans, which were ruled unlawful by the UK's Supreme Court on Wednesday.
He told BBC News: “That was a claim made of me – not something that I said.”
When pressed over the use of the term, he added: “It’s good for parliamentary theatre.”
Cleverly was more equivocal in his denial later on, telling the Today programme: "I don’t remember. I don’t remember a conversation like that."
On Wednesday, Sunak promised to bring forward emergency legislation and a new treaty with Rwanda to ensure his flagship asylum policy is not blocked again after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful.
Sunak said that, even if domestic laws are changed, the government could still face legal challenges from the European Court of Human Rights, but warned he will "not allow a foreign court to block these flights".
On Thursday, Cleverly insisted the UK would probably not have to pull out of the ECHR for the policy to work.
Follow our live coverage of the fallout from the Rwanda ruling below
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