Sailesh Mehta interviewed by LBC News

Sailesh Mehta was interviewed by Nick Ferrari on LBC’s breakfast programme to discuss the Government’s proposed reforms to the immigration and asylum appeals system.

With more than 87,000 asylum cases waiting to be heard, the Government says change is needed to speed up decisions. Drawing on his experience in human rights and public law, Sailesh argued that, (with nearly 50% appeal success rate) the real problem is not the number of appeals, but the quality of initial decision-making and the number of incorrect decisions made at the first stage. He commented:

“The solution lies in allocating resources and ensuring quality of decisions, where expert judicial oversight is necessary to ensure justice. This area of law has seen a century of oscillation between narrowing appeal rights and later re‑introducing more judicial oversight once injustices became apparent. Let us hope these changes do not create injustices so great that further corrective legislation will be necessary.”

Sailesh Mehta was a founding member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales. His work regularly involves vulnerable individuals and cases engaging fundamental rights: https://lnkd.in/dwrQv6rf

Listen back from 01:08:18