by Home Secretary James Cleverly has signed a new treaty with Rwanda in a bid to rescue Rishi Sunak’s failed deportation plan.
An emergency ‘plan B’ is also planned to be legislated soon, as Sunak tries to claim Rwanda is a safe country to send migrants following his government’s defeat in the Supreme Court.
Senior right-wing conservatives are planning a rebellion and are pressuring the prime minister to opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), warning him he must opt for the “full” version to bypass judges.
The independent It is understood that the 35 New Conservative MPs will meet with others on the right – including the Common Sense Group and the European Research Group – tonight to discuss whether to vote against Mr Sunak’s legislation if it is not tough enough.
But senior Conservative moderates are also warning Sunak that they may not support his legislation if he tries to circumvent the ECHR, arguing it would be “a mistake” for him not to have public support.
Both sides pose a real threat to Sunak’s plans as only 25 to 30 Conservative MPs would be needed to vote with the opposition to defeat his landmark legislation.
Cleverly traveled to Kigali on Tuesday, as the Prime Minister tries to make his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda legally sound after the Supreme Court ruling against the policy.
Legal experts and charities believe the attempt to start flights before the 2024 election will fail, and the government’s own lawyers are said to be pessimistic about efforts to circumvent human rights rules.
Cleverly, who met his counterpart Vincent Biruta to sign the treaty, hopes the enhanced agreement, which gives him international law status, will address the issues that led the UK’s highest court to declare the deportation plan illegal. relocation”.
But in Kigali, Cleverly could not guarantee that the first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda would take off in the spring. as the government intends.
The Home Secretary said: “We want to get this part of our wider immigration plan up and running as quickly as possible. “We firmly believe that this treaty addresses all of the issues of your honors in the Supreme Court.”
He said he “could see no credible reason” to question Rwanda’s record, adding that planned new domestic legislation would arrive “soon.”
Lawyers from the UK will be sent to Rwanda to help process claims and ensure appeals are properly granted. Ministers said the new treaty would ensure that people resettled in Rwanda do not risk being sent back to the countries they have fled (an act known as refoulement), including through a new appeals body.
An independent monitoring committee will evaluate the processing of asylum applications and the treatment and support of people for up to five years. It will also establish a new whistleblowing system to allow asylum seekers sent to Rwanda to lodge confidential complaints.
John Hayes MP, mentor to sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman, is demanding the Conservative leader opt out of the ECtHR in his emergency legislation for Rwanda.
“We need severe measures. It is important to get those flights to Rwanda, so we have to be very tough,” said the leader of the conservatives’ Common Sense Group. The independent.
Conservative Mark Francois, head of the ERG, also warned Sunak it could be “three strikes and you’re out”, urging the prime minister to ignore the ECHR in Rwanda’s emergency legislation.
Moderate Conservatives from the One Nation group (which has around 100 MPs) have urged Sunak to remain committed to both the ECHR and the UK Human Rights Act in Rwanda’s emergency legislation.
Stephen Hammond, deputy chairman, said moderate MPs would “struggle to support the so-called full option”, warning that any attempt to circumvent the ECHR would be “a mistake and does not have public support”.
Former minister Damian Green, chairman of the One Nation group, said: “The government should think twice before scrapping both the ECHR and the HRA and not rush into difficult, long-term decisions.” He said the group was studying the Rwanda treaty “with extreme attention.”
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said he was confident flights from Rwanda would take off before the general election, describing illegal immigrants as having “swept” into the UK.
The hardline cabinet minister said it is “deeply wrong” for people to enter the UK illegally in small boats, telling Sky News: “If you or I crossed an international border, or literally broke into another country, we would expect that they treated us very badly. oh really.”
Senior Home Office officials are said to have warned No 10 that its legislation in Rwanda is doomed to failure. Government lawyers are reportedly refusing to sanction the most draconian version, which would opt out of the ECHR by using a “notwithstanding” clause to order UK judges to ignore it in cases. of asylum.
Enver Solomon of the Refugee Council said the treaty showed a “callous disregard for people who have fled unimaginable horrors” and will have a “devastating impact” on the mental health of people seeking asylum. He added: “It is time for the government to admit that the Rwanda plan is simply not the right way forward.”
Campaign group Freedom from Torture said it was “shameful” to sign a new treaty. “No amendment will change the fundamental fact that this ‘cash for human beings’ deal is immoral… it must be shelved once and for all,” they said.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: “The suggestion to send British lawyers to Rwanda implies a lack of confidence in how cases would be handled there… The government needs to admit that the plan is probably beyond repair.”
It comes as a new poll from Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that more people who voted Conservative in 2019 plan to support Reform UK than Labour. Around 15 per cent plan to leave the Conservatives for the far-right party, while only 13 per cent will leave for Labour, the poll found.
In a bid to reduce net migration, which is at record levels, Cleverly has increased the salary threshold for foreign workers to £38,700. The measures announced on Monday also banned foreign social care staff from bringing their dependents to the UK.
But Jenrick said more measures may be needed to reduce legal migration. “You are right to say that more may need to be done, but without a doubt this is a big step forward,” he told GB News on Tuesday.
And in comments that surprised Westminster, the Immigration Minister also said there would be “merits” to introducing an “Australian-style” annual cap on net migration, a measure demanded by Ms Braverman.
