A “loophole” that allowed a Palestinian family to be granted the right to come to the UK under a Ukrainian resettlement scheme was the subject of a lot of debate in the House of Commons today.
Both the prime minister and leader of the opposition criticised a decision by a judge to allow the family of six the right to enter the UK.
Sir Keir pledged to close the “loophole” after he was asked about it by Kemi Badenoch – but could not elaborate on what it was.
Sky News has read through the judgment given by Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor to understand what happened.
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Why did the family apply?
The family of six, a husband and wife and their children aged 18, 17, eight and seven, lived in Gaza and their homes were destroyed after the 7 October attacks and subsequent conflict.
They ended up living in a humanitarian zone and then a refugee camp.
In January 2024, the family applied to come to the UK via the Ukraine Family Scheme form, in a bid to join one of the parent’s brothers, who is a British citizen and has lived in the UK since 2007.
While they acknowledged they were not eligible for the Ukraine scheme, the family chose to apply in an attempt to use the Home Office‘s policy on “applications for entry clearance outside the rules”.
The Home Office rejected the request, saying they were not satisfied there were “compelling, compassionate circumstances” to justify a request outside the rules.
They also noted the lack of a resettlement scheme for Palestinians.
Read more:
Judge ‘wrong’ to let Gaza family settle in UK
Palestinian family allowed to settle in UK
The appeals
Despite the Home Office saying there were no grounds to appeal, the family launched one against the decision on human rights grounds.
A judge then ruled that the initial rejection constituted a rejection of human rights, and so allowed an appeal.
Part of this appeal was under Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to a family life between the man living in Britain and his family in Gaza.
This appeal was rejected, with a lack of a Palestinian resettlement scheme noted as a reason.
An appeal was launched at a higher tribunal – and one of the arguments was that the case should be considered on its own merits and not allow the lack of a Palestinian resettlement scheme to outweigh other arguments.
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The loophole
It is here that the “loophole” seems to have appeared.
At this point. Judge Norton-Taylor heard the case and allowed the appeal.
In his judgment, he stated that it was “wrong to have taken the absence of a resettlement scheme into account at all”.
The judge added that there was “no evidence” he had seen that the Home Office had made a deliberate decision not to implement a Palestinian resettlement scheme.
He also noted that the lack of immigration rules on a topic should not count against someone.
In layman’s terms, the argument seems to be that just because a scheme to resettle people does not exist it does not mean they are banned from coming to the UK via humanitarian routes.
The judgment said the absence of a “resettlement scheme was irrelevant” to their decision.
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What next?
Judge Norton-Taylor went on to back the claim from the family in Gaza based on the ECHR and the right to a family life between them and their relative in Britain.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Ukraine Family scheme was clearly set out for Ukrainians. We have been clear that we do not agree with this judgment and we twice vigorously contested this case.
“As the prime minister made clear, article 8, the right to a family life, should be interpreted much more narrowly. It is for the government and Parliament to decide who should be covered by the UK’s safe and legal routes.
“We are pursuing all legal avenues to address the legal loophole which has been exploited in this case. The home secretary is urgently reviewing this case to ensure the correct processes are always followed and existing laws correctly interpreted.”
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They added that there was no evidence to support the argument and that data from the government shows a “very small” number of Gazans have been allowed to enter the UK – equal to roughly 150.
Sir Keir said he was planning to close the loophole, but it is not clear what this will entail.
