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It’s no surprise to hear the Rwanda Bill has been amended by the House of Lords, I can never remember an item of Immigration Legislation which was not modified or changed by their Lordships.
Yet GB News members should be in no doubt the changes being made are not about revising the legislation or seeking to improve its clarity, the aim is simple: To torpedo the entire plan. Be this through creating opportunities for legal challenges to delay flights or to re-open arguments about whether someone can be safely settled there, despite the UHCR doing just that itself.
During my time in the Home Office, despite the frustrations it could produce when wanting to get a bill through quickly, I often enjoyed the opportunity of engaging with peers who had knowledge or experience in this area.
In many cases, it would be highlighting an issue which deserved attention as part of a program of work or seeking to ensure clarity on a point.
Yet this time is different, there is an urgent need to tackle a crisis which drives at the heart of having an effective immigration system and the tactics in the Lords are about sabotaging, not revising, the bill.
Some wonder why the Rwanda Plan is so important. At its core lies a hard reality, which people traffickers and those who pay them seek to exploit: Some nations won’t accept enforced returns of their own nationals as a matter of policy or are countries we cannot deal with on such matters (Eg Assad’s Syria).
MORE AGENDA-SETTING OPINION:
Rishi Sunak
PA
Therefore, we need an alternative destination when one of their nationals decides to leave a safe and democratic country, France, where they could have claimed asylum and in some cases already have residence and pay a trafficker for a trip to the UK. Rwanda provides that alternative.
A returns deal with France for those who have left its shores in small boats would be the ideal solution to the question of where those seeking to exploit our system should be sent back to. Yet the reality is the current French President is unlikely to agree to such a deal any time soon. Meanwhile, Rwanda is a nation which specialises in refugee resettlement and is keen to work with the UK.
The returns agreement with Albania showed the impact on the numbers crossing the Channel in small boats of a clear route out of the UK for those who do. If there is a route to removal from the UK for all who cross, the people trafficker’s business model will be smashed.
Former Immigration Minister Kevin Foster
PA
The opposition parties offer soundbites, not solutions. Keen to criticise, but not able to outline any realistic plans to resolve the key issue which lies at the heart of ending the small boats crisis and breaking the business model of the people trafficking gangs.
Labour claims the Rwanda Plan is “unworkable” in any circumstances, so why then fear letting the bill through the Lords? If it would not work, why try to obstruct it and delay it, rather than let it pass and pledge to quickly repeal it if elected? The reason: They fear it will work.
This means when the Lords Amendments come back to the Commons, the Government must stand firm and MPs must vote to reject them. If Labour then blocks the bill in the Lords, everyone will see not only that Labour doesn’t want to deal with this issue, but despite all their public claims and hyperbole, deep down they fear if the Rwanda Bill passes, the Rwanda Plan will work.
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