Sunday, January 21, 2024
Will of the people?
The Guardian reports that Rishi Sunak is facing a possible defeat in the House of Lords this week over his controversial Rwanda deportation plan as peers prepare multiple bids to thwart its progress through parliament.
The paper says that the first test will come on Monday when peers debate a motion laid by former Labour attorney general Peter Goldsmith, which seeks to delay the ratification of the new Rwanda treaty until the government can show the country is safe.
However, a more severe test awaits the Prime Minister when his new bill, which is now heading into the House of Lords after a torrid passage last week through the Commons, and which seeks to make clear in law that Rwanda is safe, is finally scrutinised by peers:
Liberal Democrats are also set to launch a challenge on the Rwanda bill which will seek to kill off its passage through parliament for good. Lib Dem peers are set to table a “fatal motion” which will say that the current plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda breaches international law and will waste millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that could be better spent on public services.
The Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “Millions of pounds and months of squabbling later, there is still absolutely nothing to show for their failing Rwanda scheme. Our country cannot afford to waste any more time on a scheme that even senior Conservatives admit won’t work.”
To be successful, the motion would need to be backed by Labour and cross-bench peers. If passed, it would prevent the Rwanda bill receiving a second reading in the upper chamber. Fatal motions are not often successful but if it were to be, it could force the government back to the drawing board.
Sunak has sought to head off this challenge by urging peers not to “frustrate” what he called “the will of the people”.
The paper says that the first test will come on Monday when peers debate a motion laid by former Labour attorney general Peter Goldsmith, which seeks to delay the ratification of the new Rwanda treaty until the government can show the country is safe.
However, a more severe test awaits the Prime Minister when his new bill, which is now heading into the House of Lords after a torrid passage last week through the Commons, and which seeks to make clear in law that Rwanda is safe, is finally scrutinised by peers:
Liberal Democrats are also set to launch a challenge on the Rwanda bill which will seek to kill off its passage through parliament for good. Lib Dem peers are set to table a “fatal motion” which will say that the current plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda breaches international law and will waste millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that could be better spent on public services.
The Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “Millions of pounds and months of squabbling later, there is still absolutely nothing to show for their failing Rwanda scheme. Our country cannot afford to waste any more time on a scheme that even senior Conservatives admit won’t work.”
To be successful, the motion would need to be backed by Labour and cross-bench peers. If passed, it would prevent the Rwanda bill receiving a second reading in the upper chamber. Fatal motions are not often successful but if it were to be, it could force the government back to the drawing board.
Sunak has sought to head off this challenge by urging peers not to “frustrate” what he called “the will of the people”.
Given this policy has not appeared in any manifesto. nor been tested in a General Election it is difficult to justify this claim. As somebody else said this week, the Rwanda Bill is barely even the settled will of the parliamentary Tory party.
