Britain's Supreme Court will deliver its ruling on Wednesday on whether the government can go ahead with its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, a decision which could have far-reaching ramifications for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
At hearings in October, government lawyers argued that the top court should overturn a ruling that the scheme to send thousands of asylum seekers more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) to East Africa was unlawful as Rwanda was not a safe third country.
Sunak hopes the Rwanda scheme will help stop the flow of migrants across the Channel from Europe in small boats, and so deliver one of his key policy pledges and energise his ailing premiership ahead of an election expected next year.
With his Conservative Party languishing about 20 points behind in the polls and immigration a major concern for some voters, victory in the Supreme Court would be seized on by the government as a sign it was getting to grips with the issue.
Sacking Braverman
Defeat would be viewed as another failure.
The five senior judges, including the court's president Robert Reed, will deliver their decision at about 1000 GMT on Wednesday.
During three days of hearings, the judges heard from government lawyers who said there was a "serious and pressing need" for the Rwanda scheme.
They argued Rwanda was "less attractive" to those who might come to Britain, and so the scheme would be a deterrent, while the deal struck with the East African country would ensure the human rights of migrants deported there would be protected.
Build new life
Rwanda has said it would offer migrants sent from Britain the opportunity to build a new, safe life.
The Rwanda deal, struck by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April 2022, was designed to deter asylum seekers from making dangerous journeys across the Channel, and Sunak has made ending the influx one of five priorities as he seeks to turn around his and his party's fortunes.
This year more than 27,000 people have arrived in Britain on small boats without permission, after a record 45,755 were detected in 2022.
The scheme was put on hold in June last year after the European Court of Human Rights granted a last-minute injunction, blocking the first planned flight. That directive has now expired.
