Law Lords clarify tribunals role in Convention applications

In the landmark case of Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Kashmiri v Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Law Lords ruled that the tribunal should undertake the ordinary judicial task of weighing up opposing considerations for itself. There was no need for it to defer to the secretary of state’s views on the case, but this should be weighed up as a countervailing factor.

Five Law Lords ruled: “The task of the appellate immigration authority, on an appeal on a Convention ground against a decision of the primary official decision-maker refusing leave to enter or remain in this country, is to decide whether the challenged decision is unlawful as incompatible with a Convention right or compatible and so lawful.
“It is not a secondary, reviewing function dependent on establishing that the primary decision-maker ­misdirected himself or acted irrationally or was guilty of procedural impropriety.”