Chapter 3. The Response of the United Kingdom’s Legal and Constitutional Orders to the 1991 Gulf War and the Post-9/11 ‘War’ on Terrorism

Abstract

This chapter examines the impact of terrorism on immigration law and asylum law in the United Kingdom – particularly those parts concerned with national security – in respect of two rather different ‘wars’. It considers the response of the United Kingdom’s legal and constitutional orders during the First Gulf War (1990-91). The chapter does the same with respect to the post- 9/11 ‘war’ on terrorism. It reveals, in both immigration and asylum law, the vital importance of international standards and enforcement machinery, given the extent of governmental power in the national security area, and a need to move away from the arguably undue degree of deference United Kingdom judges have traditionally deemed necessary to accord executive opinion on these sensitive matters, and their willingness, to date, to sanction as admissible in Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) detention without trial decisions evidence obtained by torture. Keywords: asylum law; ATCSA; constitutional orders; First Gulf War; immigration law; legal orders; post- 9/11 ‘war’; terrorism; United Kingdom