Sunak insists Britain has no legal obligation to accept migrant returns from Ireland

British Prime Minister also accused Ireland of 'cherry picking' international agreements with patrols of border

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refuted any suggestion that his Government is obligated to take back asylum seekers who leave the UK to Ireland.

The row between the Irish and British Governments over taking in migrants has escalated, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying there is “no legal obligation” to accept asylum seeker returns from Ireland.

During Prime Minister's Questions, DUP MP Carla Lockhart claimed Gardaí are due to patrol the border with Northern Ireland. She described it as “hypocrisy” from the Irish Government.

While the Department of Justice here has already clarified that Gardaí will not “physically” patrol the border, Mr Sunak criticised the Irish Government saying that there were commitments made between the two states to avoid a hard border.

“We can’t have cherry-picking of important international agreements, so the Secretary of State [James Cleverly] is seeking urgent clarification so there will be no disruption or police checkpoints at or near the border,” Mr Sunak said.

He also refuted any suggestion that his Government is obligated to take back asylum seekers who leave the UK to Ireland.

“I can confirm that the United Kingdom has no legal obligation to accept returns of illegal migrants from Ireland,” he told the House of Commons.

Mr Sunak’s comments come as Taoiseach Simon Harris said the two countries do have an agreement to allow asylum seekers to be returned, and that he does not want Ireland to be used as a “pawn” in UK politics.

“In relation to the UK, I have no interest at all in this country being used as a pawn in relation to British politics. We have an agreement in place,” Mr Harris told the Dáil.

He said that the agreement itself has been in operation since 2020 and is underlined in legislation in both Ireland and the UK.

“Countries should honour agreements they sign up to and this country will honour ours,” the Taoiseach said.

On Tuesday, the Government approved plans to fast-track legislation that would allow Ireland to return asylum seekers to the UK, after the High Court ruled that the UK could no longer be deemed a safe country due to its controversial Rwanda plan.