The Court of Appeal has awarded indemnity costs against the Home Secretary in her failed appeal against a decision of the Upper Tribunal, after she failed to pursue and to attempt to ‘make good’ an allegation of ‘systemic failure’ by the Tribunals of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber to properly apply Immigration Rules 398 and 399 in cases concerning the deportation of foreign criminals. The Home Office had secured permission to appeal on the basis of that allegation, but it was abandoned on the day of the hearing.
Singh LJ, with Underhill LJ agreeing, said: “Having obtained permission [to appeal] on that basis, the Appellant failed either to make the submission good with evidence or to pursue the argument. She abandoned it without even explaining why. In my view, in all the circumstances of this case, the Appellant’s conduct was indeed unreasonable to a high degree.”
This judgment comes at a time when there is significant public concern over the pursuit by the Home Office of a policy of creating a “hostile environment” for migrants, without proper consideration of the consequences.
The Respondent was successfully represented by Barristers Manjit Singh Gill QC and Frances Shaw from the Immigration Team at No5.
Secretary of State for the Home Department v Barry [2018] EWCA Civ 790 http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2018/790.html
Read more on the case from Free Movement: https://www.freemovement.org.uk/court-of-appeal-home-office-indemnity-costs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=court-of-appeal-home-office-indemnity-costs
