‘Rwanda plan’ voted in Britain – Rishi Sunak’s toughest day in office

The British Prime Minister faces the biggest parliamentary test of his tenure tonight Rishi Sunakwhen the deputies will be asked to vote on the government’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda that arrive irregularly in the country.

The debate on the bill began at noon in the House of Commons. The vote scheduled to take place around 21.00 (Greece time) and is seen as the thorniest obstacle the Conservative prime minister has faced since taking office nearly a year ago. Being attacked by both the right wing of his party as well as from the opposition, sunak risks seeing his prestige crumble if his proposal is rejectedjust a few months before the parliamentary elections.

The vote in London will take place just one day after the defeat of the French government on the same issue, irregular immigrationafter the National Assembly rejected the bill that aimed to control immigration flows and improve immigrant integration procedures.

The text being debated in Westminster today has been amended since in its original form it was ruled unconstitutional by Britain’s Supreme Court, In November. The plan to deport migrants, wherever they come from, to Rwanda, announced in April 2022 but never implemented.

The new treaty I signed with Rwanda and the accompanying bill are game-changers“, he stated at the beginning of the meeting Home Secretary James Cleverley. “The principle of relocating persons to a safe country so that their asylum claim can be examined there is in accordance with the terms of the (Geneva) Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,” he argued.

Rishi Sunak has reduced the fight against irregular immigration to his priority and presented this bill as “toughest ever adopted against illegal immigration”, as he wrote in a post on Platform X today. The text describes Rwanda as a safe third country and prohibits the return of migrants to their countries of origin. It is also proposed that certain articles of UK human rights law should not apply to deportations in order to limit legal appeals.

“Circus at Westminster”

These proposals are not enough for the right wing of the Conservatives. Some believe that London should to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and from other international human rights conventions so that there is no chance of success in court appeals.

On Monday, Brexit hardliners from the ERG (European Research Group) said the bill provided only a “partial and incomplete solution” in terms of preventing appeals to the courts and for this it needs “very significant amendments”. This group of Eurosceptics, who exerts great influence on the Conservatives, however, he did not give any “instruction” to its members on how to vote today.

Last week, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned, refusing to support the bill which in his opinion “doesn’t go far enough”. For Labor leader Keir Starmer, if Sunak is defeated in tonight’s vote, he ‘will have to call an election’. But he added that he “has no doubts” that the text will be voted on.

“The circus resumes today in Westminster”, Starmer said, referring to the split within the Conservative party. “While they strut with arrogance (…) there is here an ungoverned country,” he complained.

The Conservatives, who have been in power for 14 years, are second in the polls, well ahead of Labour. According to British media, last week Sunak said they should now “unite or die”.

The Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons. Even if Conservative MPs vote against the “Rwanda Security Bill” or abstain from voting, the text could be adopted with the support of independent MPs or minor parties in Northern Ireland. No bill has been voted down at this procedural stage since 1986. If it is not passed today, the government will not be able to bring it back for a vote until the next parliamentary term, which is after next year’s election.

Even if Sunak secures the necessary votes, the bill may then get stuck in the House of Lords and not become law of the land before the election.

The “Rwanda” plan, promoted by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, aims to prevent thousands of migrants from crossing the English Channel to reach British shores. Under this proposal, anyone who arrived in Britain irregularly after 1 January 2022 it can be sent to Rwanda, some 6,400 kilometers away. However, in June of the same year, the first flight to carry a handful of asylum seekers to Kigali was canceled at the last minute, following an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Last month Britain’s High Court ruled unanimously that the program is illegal because Rwanda is not considered a safe third country and migrants are at risk of being sent back to their home countries, where they would be at risk of ill-treatment.

Although no deportation has taken place at this time, Britain has already paid Rwanda £240 million. The British government hopes to send thousands of migrants to the African country, although Rwanda currently has the capacity to host only a few hundred.

Britain currently spends more than £3bn a year processing asylum claims and the cost of housing immigrants waiting for a decision by the authorities amounts to 8 million per day. Deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda would cost an average of £169,000 each.

According to official figures released by the government in August, more than 134,000 people, a record number, are waiting for authorities to make a first decision on whether or not to grant them asylum. This number jumps to 175,457 if their dependent family members are included.

Source: News Beast

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