Gazan family allowed to settle in UK under Ukrainian scheme - as Home Office warns of 'floodgates opening'
12 February 2025, 00:04 | Updated: 12 February 2025, 06:40
A judge has ruled that a Gazan family can join a relative in the UK under a scheme meant for Ukrainian refugees - leading to fears the decision could pave the way for a new wave of asylum seekers.
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Hugo Norton-Taylor decided that the Palestinian family of six should be able to move to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme.
The initiative was set up in March 2022 to allow Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia to move to the UK if they had a relative who was a British citizen or had settled status. The scheme ended last year.
But a Palestinian family - a father, mother and four children - whose home had been blown up in an air strike applied to move to Britain under the programme, claiming that their situation was so "compelling" that they should be let in anyway.
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They were initially rebuffed because their case didn't fit the scheme, with the rationale that it is up to Parliament which countries can benefit from resettlement programmes, the Telegraph reported.
But Norton-Taylor, an upper tribunal judge, overruled this decision, and found that the family had the right to come to the UK on the basis of their Article 8 right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Judge Norton-Taylor ruled that their specific situation outweighed the public interest in keeping to British immigration rules.
The ruling has sparked fears that a precedent could be set, and millions more people in similar war-torn circumstances could theoretically be given permission to come to the UK.
The Conservatives' Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the ruling could serve as “a basis for anyone in any conflict zone anywhere in the world with relations in the UK to come here”.
He added: “The UK has generously helped people in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Hong Kong with specific humanitarian schemes. We cannot have judges simply making up new schemes based on novel and expansive interpretations of human rights law.
“It is clearer than ever that radical changes to human rights laws are needed – so Parliament, and not judges, make decisions about eligibility to come to the UK. Now there is a ceasefire in Gaza, I hope that the Government appeals this decision based on the new facts on the ground."
A Home Office spokesperson said that they had contested the case "rigorously".
“The latter court ruled against us on the narrow facts of this specific case.
"Nevertheless, we are clear that there is no resettlement route from Gaza, and we will continue to contest any future claims that do not meet our rules.”
The same judge, Norton-Taylor, also ruled in favour of a failed Albanian asylum seeker who claimed he had the right to stay in the UK based on his relationship with his wife's children by another man.
Norton-Taylor also decided in 2022 that a convicted rapist from Afghanistan should not be deported back to his home country because of the risk posed to him by the Taliban.
In another decision in 2021, Norton-Taylor gave a convicted Kosovan drug dealer leave to remain in the UK on human rights grounds.
