On 17 January, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons, despite a Conservative rebellion over the bill.
The bill was approved by 320 votes to 276 votes. However, eleven Conservative MPs voted against the bill, including former home secretary Suella Braverman and former immigration officer Robert Jenrick.
Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) opposed the bill, with First Minister Humza Yousaf stating the bill is “a further demonstration Westminster values are not Scotland’s values.”
It will now be passed to the House of Lords, who will debate and formally vote on the bill.
This comes as an amendment, proposed by Jenrick, to block last-minute interim orders from the European Court of Human Rights was rejected by the House of Commons by 65 to 536 MPs.
However, the amendment received the backing of 61 Conservative MPs, as there were growing concerns whether the originally proposed plans could be blocked by courts.
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Home Secretary James Cleverly responded to the proposed amendments, stating:
“This bill has been meticulously drafted to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges.”
This comes following the resignation of two Tory Party deputy chairmen and a ministerial aide over the bill on 16 January.
Deputy chairs Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith resigned, stating it was: “not because we are against the legislation, but because like everyone else we want it to work.”
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The Safety of Rwanda Bill is a plan by the government to deter migrants coming to the United Kingdom (UK) by sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.
However, in November 2023 the UK Supreme Court deemed the bill illegal, ruling that Rwanda was not a safe country for asylum seekers.
Cleverly consequently proposed emergency legislation which stated that Rwanda is a safe country for asylum seekers and all “decision-makers”, which include courts, should treat it as such.
The UK has already paid Rwanda £240 million for the proposed scheme.
However, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame announced on 17 January that Rwanda would return the money paid by the UK government, stating that “if they don’t come, we can return the money.”
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It is unclear when the House of Lords will debate the bill.
Sunak responded to his win in the Commons, saying it is “time to start the flights” to Rwanda and that the House of Lords “must pass this bill.”
“The Prime Minister holds a press conference” by UK Prime Minister is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.