C3 And C4 v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs

Dan Squires KC and Professor Zachary Douglas KC, with Ayesha Christie and Jessica Jones (instructed by Birnberg Peirce) for C3 and with Julianne Kerr Morrison and Isabel Buchanan (instructed by ITN Solicitors) for C4 Sir James Eadie KC, Lisa Giovannetti KC, Guglielmo Verdirame KC, Jason Pobjoy and Emmeline Plews (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Respondent Hearing dates: 18th and 19th October 2022 ____________________

This Judgment was handed down by the Court remotely by circulation to the parties and their representatives by email and by release to The National Archives. The date and time for hand-down is deemed to be 11am on 2 nd November 2022.

C3 and C4 have not sought to challenge these decisions by way of judicial review. The SSFCDA did not deal in terms with the request to provide travel documents but that has been addressed subsequently.

Putting to one side the possible inherent circularity in this statement, what is clear is that in Mr Hargreaves' view the UK Government would need to make a commitment to repatriate.

(1) The SSFCDA is not obliged to issue an emergency travel document; it is within his discretion to do so. In the cases of C3 and C4, extraordinary arrangements would be required outside the Government's standard policy, because they cannot first travel to a neighbouring country to collect the document in person, and the SSFCDA has "declined to provide travel documents in these consular assistance decisions [i.e. the cases of C3 and C4], having taken account of all relevant circumstances".