by Nicol Degli Innocenti
The Westminster Parliament has narrowly approved the bill to send migrants to Rwanda. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has spent the day in tense negotiations with various factions of the Conservative Party, can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now
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LONDON – Government crisis narrowly avoided: the Westminster Parliament This evening the bill to send migrants to Rwanda was narrowly passed. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has spent the day in tense negotiations with various factions of the Conservative Party, can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now.
After a long and heated parliamentary debate 313 MPs voted in favor and 269 voted against. There were several snipers in the Tory ranks, so we can speak of a eliminated threat rather than a victory for Sunak. The main opposition parties – Labour, Liberal Democrats and Scottish Independence Parties – voted unanimously against the bill.
The “Rwanda's Security Law“is an attempt to revive the government's plan to deport migrants who land on English shores to the African country with no possibility of return. The plan, originally proposed in April 2022, got stuck in various legal disputes and was then finally rejected last month by the British Supreme Court, which ruled in its ruling that Rwanda could not be considered a “safe asylum.”
Instead of abandoning the plan, the government decided to proceed anyway. In recent days he has amended the bill which, as Home Secretary James Cleverly assured today, now removes any doubts raised by the Supreme Court.
The problem is that the Conservative Party is divided two factions with diametrically opposed opinions on how to proceed, as can be seen in the debate in Parliament today.
The right wing believes the bill should be strengthened because it could give migrants the opportunity to appeal and because it does not protect the government from “interference” by international courts and conventions. This, according to hardline MPs, means the UK does not have full control of its borders, which is one of the main aims of Brexit.
However, the One Nation Tories, the large bloc of centrist MPs, only support the plan as long as there are no changes to the text. Rather, they are against any tightening that could lead to violations of international laws protecting human rights and do not want Great Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Some Legal experts They also disputed the bill's premise, arguing that there would be a dangerous precedent if Parliament claimed the right to assert its own “truth” in contrast to the Supreme Court's findings (in this case by defining Rwanda as a “safe Country”) arise that could undermine the established practice of separation of powers.
even there Parliamentary Human Rights Commissionwhich includes members of all parties, ruled that the Rwanda law violates international law and could also lead to a conflict between ministers and courts.
Despite the yes vote a everything uphill for the Sunak's planwith another vote in January and then a vote in the House of Lords, where the Conservatives do not have a majority.
The question remains why Sunak, already in a weak position within the party, insists on pushing ahead with such a controversial plan, which in any case does not solve the problem of illegal immigration. Even if deportations to Rwanda could begin tomorrow without a legal challenge, the African country could actually receive at most a few thousand migrants, a fraction of the 46,000 who arrived last year.
Delays and inefficiencies at the Home Office have also led to a backlog of over 90,000 immigrants waiting to find out whether they have the right to remain in the UK refugees.
The government has said the Rwanda plan will have a strong deterrent effect because, once implemented, it will deter thousands of would-be migrants from making the dangerous journey to English shores, knowing they cannot stay anyway.
Instead, the Labor opposition and human rights groups disputed the cost of the plan – over £300 million, some of which London has already paid to Kigali.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer has said he will scrap the plan to send migrants to Rwanda if, as all polls show, the Labor Party wins the next election.
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