2023-12-12 23:42:00
The British government’s controversial bill to deport migrants who arrived illegally in the United Kingdom to Rwanda passed a first hurdle in Parliament on Tuesday evening, granting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a respite.
“We will now work” so that this text “enters into the law so that we can take off the flights to Rwanda and stop the boats” of migrants crossing the Channel, reacted the head of the conservative government on the social network (ex-Twitter).
After almost seven hours of debate, the bill was approved by 313 votes for (269 against) in the House of Commons.
But the parliamentary road is still long. Before this vote, hard Brexiters from the influential European Research Group (ERG), through MP Mark François, indicated that they would not support at this stage the text which they consider too moderate. They indicated that they would seek to amend it, giving an appointment in January for the continuation of this saga.
According to political scientist Tim Bale of Queen Mary University of London, it is a “respite rather than a triumph for Rishi Sunak”. “There are still plenty of obstacles” and “no guarantee that they will be surmountable,” he told AFP.
Four years after the triumph of the Conservatives under Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak finds himself at the head of a divided majority, challenged by the right wing of his party.
A sign that immigration dominates debates in many European countries, this vote in London came the day after a heavy political defeat by the French government on this subject, the National Assembly having rejected a bill aimed at controlling flows and improve integration.
New “deal”
The British text aims to respond to the objections of the Supreme Court, which last month blocked a previous version of the project.
The NGO Human Rights Watch saw in its approval “a defeat for human decency and a blow to the rule of law”.
The expulsion of migrants – wherever they come from – to Rwanda was announced in April 2022 but never implemented.
“The new treaty that I signed with Rwanda and the bill that accompanies it are a game-changer,” Interior Minister James Cleverly declared at the opening of the debates, assuring that the text is “compliant under the Refugee Convention.
Rishi Sunak, who has made the fight against illegal immigration a priority, presented the text as “the toughest law ever adopted against illegal immigration”, on X (formerly Twitter).
The new text defines Rwanda as a safe third country and prevents the return of migrants to their country of origin.
It also proposes not to apply certain provisions of British human rights law to evictions, to limit legal recourse.
“Simply laughable”
But this text is not enough for the right wing of the conservative party. Some believe that London should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and other international human rights conventions, to prevent all legal remedies from succeeding.
During the debate on Tuesday, opposition MP Chris Bryant (Labour) ruled that “the idea that someone who is not deterred by a dangerous crossing on a dinghy in one of the busiest sea lanes in the world by this fragile absurdity is simply laughable.”
And “we cannot make Rwanda safe just by saying it,” he added.
Last week, the Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick resigned, refusing to support a text which did not go “far enough” according to him. The pressure is such that Secretary of State for Climate Graham Stuart returned to London from COP28 in Dubai to take part in the vote, under scathing criticism from NGOs.
A few days after the resounding resignation of his Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick, Rishi Sunak risked a crushing defeat if the right wing rejected the text at this early stage.
After almost 14 years in power, the Conservatives are well ahead of Labor in the polls.
In June 2022, a first flight which was to take a handful of migrants to Kigali was canceled at the last minute after an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.
Some 29,700 people have arrived in the UK this year on small boats, compared to 45,700 in 2022.
12/12/2023 22:40:37 – London (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
#Sunak #clears #hurdle #Parliament