UK PM Sunak faces leadership test over Rwanda plan

LONDON - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Dec 12

sought to avoid a humiliating defeat

for his latest plans to send migrants to Rwanda that have split his ruling Conservative Party.

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

is Mr Sunak’s answer to a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in November that deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda was illegal in international law.

Interior Minister James Cleverly admitted the plans were “novel” and “pushing at the edge of the envelope” but addressed the court’s concerns.

Extreme action was needed to break the business model of “evil people-smuggling gangs” preying on the vulnerable, he told Members of Parliament before a debate and crunch vote on the proposals.

“This is lawful, this is fair, this is necessary... This is how we restore confidence in our immigration and take control of our borders,” he said.

The Bill is part of wider government action to cut record levels of regular and irregular immigration that are likely to be key issues at elections in 2024.

But by seeking to declare Rwanda safe – despite concerns from human rights monitors – and removing legal challenges to deportation orders, Mr Sunak has

triggered deep factional Tory in-fighting

not seen since wrangling over what form Brexit should take.

Hardline right-wingers say the proposals are not tough enough, while more liberal Tories are concerned it could see Britain break international law if the proposals are amended down the line.

Defeat would be not only the first at such an early stage of the parliamentary process since 1986 but also a blow to Mr Sunak’s authority, just over a year since he became Tory leader.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said he expected the government to win the vote but the Prime Minister should call a general election if he loses.

Mr Sunak, who is well behind opposition Labour in the polls, has staked his political reputation on controlling immigration as one of his key policies.

In a bid to appease opponents on Dec 12, he invited potential rebels for breakfast at Downing Street to get them to back the Bill – or risk it falling at the first hurdle.

“Take back control” was a mantra for Brexit supporters like Mr Sunak during the 2016 referendum on European Union membership.

But Tory governments have found the reality of policing Britain’s borders since leaving the EU in full in 2021 more problematic.

The UK-Rwanda deportation plan was first announced by Mr Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson in 2022 as a way of dealing with increasing numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from France in small boats.

Mr Starmer called the policy, which has cost £240 million (S$404 million) without anyone being sent to Rwanda, a “perfect example” of the “cultural stain that runs through the modern Conservative Party”.

“Not a single person has been sent and even if we did send people, we would pay for their hotels and upkeep.

“And we’d have to resettle refugees from Rwanda in exchange. That’s the deal that they are voting on today,” he said.

Net migration – the difference between the number of people arriving and those leaving – stood at a record 750,000 in 2022.

Mr Sunak’s government has since announced plans including higher minimum salaries for economic migrants, and restrictions on accompanying family to cut numbers, prompting widespread criticism.

But it also wants to cut asylum applications due to a backlog of cases from “small boat” crossings, blaming them for adding pressure and an estimated £8 million-a-day cost on public services.

One provision of the Bill is to house migrants deemed to have arrived illegally in purpose-built detention centres, to ease accommodation pressures.

Just before Mr Cleverly spoke, British authorities confirmed the sudden death of an asylum seeker on an accommodation barge docked off south-west England.

No further details were immediately available but Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith accused the government of inflicting further trauma on migrants. AFP