The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal concerning the status of 10,000 asylum appeals heard under the 2005 Fast Track Rules (“FTR 2005”) in the case of TN (Vietnam) [2021] UKSC 41 .
These FTR 2005 rules were in force between 2005 and 2014, and governed the procedure by which detained individuals could appeal against the refusal of their asylum. Those rules have since been held to be ultra vires on the grounds that they were systematically unfair.
The Secretary of State successfully argued that the fact that the procedure rules created an “unacceptable risk” of unfairness did not necessarily mean that every case decided pursuant to those ultra vires rules were unfair but instead that each case should be determined individually.
The Supreme Court agreed and dismissed TN’s appeal, holding that the fact that the system was structurally unfair did not mean that it operated unfairly in every case, such as this one.
Natasha Barnes, led by Robin Tam QC, is acting for the Secretary of State.
