In a dramatic statement in the Commons, the ousted former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has laid out her Rwanda position. She said that we don’t actually have to leave the ECHR, even though she favours it – emergency legislation can be enacted, but has to meet the following five tests:
Braverman finished by saying “electoral oblivion” awaits the Tories if another failing bill is put forward. The gauntlet is thrown down…
So it’s official. In the back of the new Rwanda treaty, under “Other Agreements”, is this:
“The Parties shall make arrangements for the United Kingdom to resettle a portion of Rwanda’s most vulnerable refugees in the United Kingdom, recognising both Parties’ commitment towards providing better international protection for refugees“
Note that there are no specified numbers. Meanwhile “all transfer requests by the United Kingdom shall require approval by Rwanda prior to any relocation” – so Rwanda gets to decide which asylum seekers it wants to take. No wonder we haven’t had to cough up extra cash…
At least one punter has confidence in Rishi’s Rwanda strategy, despite a fresh rallying cry from Braverman and Simon Clarke to keep a hard line. A Question Time audience member said the Rwanda policy was an “easy fix for President, um, Prime Minister Cameron“. And they say reshuffles don’t get noticed by the public…
Rishi has announced emergency legislation to ask Parliament to designate Rwanda a safe country, in addition to the new treaty to be presented to the courts. Sounds a lot like a panicked resurrection of Boris’ proposal…
Sunak says that the first plane will leave in Spring next year. He adds “I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights. If the Strasbourg court chooses to intervene against the expressed wishes of Parliament, I am prepared to do what is necessary to get flights off“. He refused to confirm if a flight would depart before the election. Number 10 is keen for Plan B to at least look beefy…
Snap YouGov polling of 3,400 Brits has support for scrapping the policy altogether higher than for a similar agreement with a new country at 39% to 29%. ECHR membership has the support of 51% of people compared to 28% who want to withdraw. Crucially, however, among 2019 Tory voters the policy’s continuation has 49% support. Stay tuned for updates…
The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the current Rwanda plan is unlawful. Lord Reed, Supreme Court President, delivered the ruling which dismissed the government’s case and ruled in favour of June’s Court of Appeal ruling. The court was considering whether Rwanda is a “safe third country” for migrants to be sent to. Braverman said in her letter yesterday that Number 10 had no “Plan B“, though several options have been mooted.
UPDATE: Sunak has released a statement and planned a press conference for 4:45 p.m.
Read Sunak’s response below:
It looks like successive Tory home secretaries are trailblazing on migration as Olaf Scholz has just announced the German government will “examine” a Rwanda-style policy of processing migrant applications abroad. The pledge comes as a result of a late-night crisis meeting with regional leaders to hammer out a harder migration framework. Austria has already signed a “migration and security agreement” last week with the UK to co-operate on offshoring schemes. While pearl-clutchers gasp at the Tories’ ‘inhumanity’ on Twitter, European governments are taking the UK’s lead…
