John-Paul Waite appears for the successful secretary of state in the Supreme Court

MS (Palestinian Territories) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 25

In 2007 the Secretary of State had rejected MS’s asylum and human rights claims and informed him that directions would be set for his removal to the Palestinian Territories. It was generally accepted that he would not in fact be able to return to the Palestinian Territories as he had no identification. His appeals on asylum and human rights grounds were rejected, and he pursued an appeal on the sole ground that that the removal decision was not "in accordance with the law" within the meaning of s.84(1)(e) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. The argument put forward for MS was that removal directions could not lawfully be given to remove him to the Palestinian Territories pursuant to the Immigration Act 1971 Sch.2, since that was not a country or territory to which there was reason to believe that he would be admitted within the meaning of Sch.2 para.8(1)(c)(iv). The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

In dismissing MS’s appeal the Supreme Court held that the specification of a destination country was not an integral part of the decision to set removal directions, and as such there was no right of appeal against an immigration decision on the ground that the stated destination country or territory was not one that satisfy the requirements of para.8(1)(c)(iv) of Schedule 3 to the 1971 Act.

John-Paul Waite was instructed by the Treasury Solicitor, and has a wealth of experience in all areas of public law.