Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill
Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Bills
House of Commons
I can confirm that none of the Lords amendments engage Commons financial privilege.
I beg to move, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 1.
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With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments 2 to 10, and Government motions to di...
This Bill is an essential element of our wider strategy to protect our borders, and to stop the b...
The Minister will understand that many of us are deeply concerned that the Bill undermines the Go...
I am concerned with this Government and this Parliament. As for our obligations, nothing in the B...
At least the Minister responds to our questions and tries to address the issues. The last time I ...
I do recall our earlier exchange across the Chamber, and the hon. Gentleman may know of my exchan...
I must say I am surprised that the Government are not concerned about the clash between the Bill ...
I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s concerns, but I repeat that there is no incompatibility b...
Rwanda cannot be deemed a safe country for refugees simply as a result of a unilateral declaratio...
I disagree entirely with all the points that the hon. Gentleman has made; I know that he is patie...
Like me, the Minister has always believed that immigration should be dealt with on a UK rather th...
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend, who speaks with great experience and authority. He will be ...
My right hon. and learned Friend is making a good case for the importance of the Bill and the irr...
My hon. Friend is entirely right on both counts. I will develop the point about the deterrent eff...
I am going to make some progress now.
The Bill is based on the compliance of both Rwanda an...
The point the Minister has not mentioned is that the European scheme is voluntary. Are the Govern...
On the safety of Rwanda, the ambassador was very clear about his assessment; I am going to contin...
The Minister says that he is accepting the word of the Rwandan Foreign Minister that the country ...
No. Respectfully, I encourage the hon. Lady to listen to the debate, because I read out the words...
Does the Minister recall that the Supreme Court judgment hinged on the issue of refoulement and n...
I am grateful indeed to my hon. Friend; I will turn to refoulement and non-refoulement, and that ...
With reference to the point made by the hon. Member for Torbay about the basis of the Supreme Cou...
In fact, that document supports the Government’s position, because the evidence put forward is ba...
My question was this: in January this year, the British Government, through the Home Office, publ...
The answer is that the hon. and learned Lady must not cherry-pick her evidence. The evidence must...
Will the Minister give way?
I will not give way. There is a conclusive presumption in the Bill that Rwanda is generally a saf...
Is the Minister aware of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ comments? It says:
My hon. Friend proves the point I just made, that it is the evidence in the round that must be co...
Will the Minister give way?
I have given way twice to the hon. and learned Lady, so I will make progress. We have been clear ...
Will the Minister give way?
I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman, so I will make progress.
That shows that if...
On that point about the deterrent, will the Minister give way?
No, I am going to move on to amendment 6.
Amendment 6 seeks to enable United Kingdom courts...
I thank the Minister for giving way. The Rwanda plan will not work as the deterrent that Minister...
On deterrence, which I think was the thrust of the question, the Albania scheme brought into effe...
The House will know that I am the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for international fr...
I know how seriously the hon. Gentleman takes this important issue. There is a policy of non-disc...
My right hon. and learned Friend is right that it is essential that protections are in place to e...
I noted some vigorous nodding from my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) and m...
Reverting to the previous amendment on the facts that Parliament should be given, can the Ministe...
Respectfully, that is not directly relevant to amendment 8. The answer to the question on volunta...
Will the Minister give way?
I am going to continue.
Amendment 9 would act to impede provisions already recently passed ...
The Minister seemed to try to brush over some of the costs involved. Is he aware that Virgin Gala...
We had a debate on Thursday on the costs of the scheme and not a single Labour Back Bencher was t...
I rise to speak in favour of all 10 of the Lords amendments that are before us today. They each s...
Since 2020, we have seen 82 gangs disrupted and more than 400 people arrested because of the acti...
We will eradicate the activity of the criminal smuggler gangs by having a proper security partner...
On amendment 1, is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Constitution Committee of the House of Lords...
I would remind the hon. Gentleman that the Supreme Court—the highest court of our land —has ruled...
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
I will give way one more time.
I am extremely grateful, because this question goes right to the heart of the matter. Paragraph 1...
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but at the end of the day, we cannot legislate t...
My hon. Friend will be aware of the thousands of asylum seekers who are being dispersed up and do...
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the smoke and mirrors that have been used about clearing ...
Although the hon. Gentleman and I might not share many views on this Bill, does he share my surpr...
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his excellent question. Sometimes the mask slips in the Gove...
The shadow Minister is making an excellent speech. Let us not forget the history: the Tories’ Rwa...
I agree with every word my hon. Friend says.
Just imagine if the amount of time, money, res...
My hon. Friend is making a very powerful argument against this Government’s wasteful policy. Is h...
My hon. Friend has done his maths on the £2 million. I particularly enjoyed his analogy with the ...
I thank the shadow Minister for giving way. He says he wants removals to a safe third country. Wh...
I am very sorry, but would the hon. Member mind repeating that?
It is always good to listen to an intervention, but I will repeat it for him. He said that one pa...
I apologise; I should have said “home country.” I would like to correct the record. It was “home ...
How much would Labour’s plan cost?
As I have already said—I do not know if the hon. Member was listening—this is about repurposing t...
The hon. Gentleman says that he wants more Afghan people to come from Pakistan to the UK. How man...
The amendment is about stopping them being sent to Rwanda, but let us be absolutely clear: there ...
In my constituency I have met one family in a similar situation. The constituent’s husband had be...
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The scope of Lords amendment 10 is specifically for those who...
Let me speak to Lords amendments 9 and 10. Those of us who have dealt with trafficked victims and...
I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention. He makes the case with passion and conviction...
With regard to the earlier question of how many, does the hon. Member not agree that the simple a...
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he has said. What a contrast there is between his inter...
Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that amendment 1 is entirely otiose? In terms of compliance wi...
If that is the case, why will Ministers not accept the amendment? Those in the other place, who h...
Perhaps I can help to shed light on this. The Minister has just shown that the Government are not...
I agree with my hon. Friend, who makes a very clear case. A lot of rhetoric has accompanied the B...
A joint statement signed by over 260 civil society organisations has branded the Bill
“a co...
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If the amount of time and energy that has been wasted on this...
Order. The Government and Opposition Front Benchers have, perhaps understandably, taken a certain...
Thank you very much indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker. May I begin with an apology to you and others for ...
My right hon. and learned Friend is making an excellent point about how we must be innovative. Is...
I am conscious, Mr Deputy Speaker, not to transgress into Second Reading territory, but I think m...
My right hon. and learned Friend makes a very powerful point, with which I have much sympathy. Be...
My hon. and learned Friend anticipates my conclusion, and I agree with him entirely. In fact, he ...
In light of what my right hon. and learned Friend says, how does he see Parliament’s role in asse...
Essentially, Lords amendments 2 and 3—flawed as they are—raise the valid issue of what happens if...
I see two contradictions, almost, in what the right hon. and learned Gentleman is saying. He talk...
I am afraid I do not accept what the hon. Lady says. First, as the Minister made clear, the Gover...
It remains the position of the Scottish National party that this is an irredeemably awful Bill. W...
I am sure that my hon. Friend will have read the report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights on...
I absolutely agree. Other countries around the world have looked to the UK as an upholder of righ...
Will the hon. Lady give way?
I will make a little progress, because I am mindful of what Mr Deputy Speaker said about time. I ...
The hon. Lady makes the point that things change with time. Does she accept that many measures ha...
It is difficult to tell, because scrutiny mechanisms are not in place that would allow Committees...
Will the hon. Lady give way?
I am conscious of what you said about time, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I should like to make some pro...
Not at my convent school.
That is another question, I suppose. The point is that everyone is different. We cannot reliably ...
Will the hon. Lady give way?
As I have said, I am conscious of what we have been told about time. I am sure that if the hon. L...
On the hon. Lady’s point about the UK letting down people who were working for us and with us, th...
The hon. Lady is correct: it is a gimmick. It has no basis in fact and there a lot of doubt about...
I signed the Government’s motion to reject Lords amendment 1 and am happy to support them in it. ...
Will the hon. Member give way?
No. Amendment 1, put forward by the House of Lords, completely contradicts that principle, becaus...
I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for again making a powerful argument about the sovereig...
I am bound to say, with no disrespect to the noble Lords, who passed this amendment with a majori...
It is almost two years since the Rwanda scheme was first announced by the then Home Secretary in ...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I am going to carry on. The hon. Gentleman spoke at length, and I want to get through a number of...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I am going to carry on, because I want other Members to be able to speak.
Amendment 8 relat...
Will the right hon. Lady give way on that point?
The hon. Lady is trying to get in, so I will give way, but I am keen to finish.
I am grateful to her for giving way, because I was hoping to intervene on the SNP spokesperson, t...
Very briefly, I am reporting what the cross-party Home Affairs Committee decided and put in our r...
On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I in no way wish to seem churlish, but the right hon. Mem...
Order. I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that that is not even a nice try. I call Alexander Sta...
It is a pleasure to speak in this very important debate, which is about defeating these awful ame...
My hon. Friend refers to the Australian system, which was known as Operation Sovereign Borders. I...
I would not wish to comment on what is going on in their lordships’ minds, but clearly they do no...
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
If Rwanda is such a wonderful place to be deported to, why would the prospect of being deported t...
That is an interesting point. I am under no illusion that Rwanda is a great country, but I will t...
Does my hon. Friend agree that another safe country is France?
I thank my hon. Friend, who does so much work on this issue in her constituency. Indeed, France i...
I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way on two occasions. He will remember that ...
I thank my right hon. Friend for that apposite intervention. That is the concern. Having a situat...
Does my hon. Friend share my concern that the SNP objected to the regulations on age verification...
I thank my hon. Friend for that observation. That is shocking, and it just shows where the care a...
I rise to support the Lords amendments. Lords amendments 9 and 10 because they are basic humanita...
Let me just develop this point, and then I will take some interventions. I agree with the House o...
The hon. and learned Lady is making, as she usually does, a considered argument based on her visi...
The Rwandans host more than 100,000 refugees on their border who have come over from neighbouring...
I will give way to the hon. Member who is a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. I was also in that meeting with the UNHCR. Is it not also t...
I, too, have detailed notes of our meeting with the people from UNHCR. The hon. Lady is right to ...
Will the hon. and learned Lady give way?
I give way to the hon. Lady, who was also on the visit to Kigali.
The hon. and learned Lady says that the UK is taking a tiny number of refugees and asylum seekers...
I do not have time to get into redesigning the system, but—[Interruption.] Well, during our inqui...
Would there not be some sense in allowing Home Office decision makers to take account of the Home...
The document was withdrawn for a while and updated in January, so I only saw it and read it in de...
I thank the hon. and learned Lady for giving way again. The anti-discrimination law in the Rwanda...
Order. That is a speech, not an intervention. I am terribly sorry, but I must ask the hon. Lady t...
My answer to the hon. Lady is that, as I said at the outset of my speech, in assessing whether Rw...
The hon. and learned Lady is making a case about the importance of evidence. Does she agree that ...
Order. Before the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) resumes her sp...
I was crystal clear at the start of my speech that I am speaking in a personal capacity, just as ...
Order. I said that we were skating on fairly thin ice because other, equally impressive legal adv...
I rise to support the Government in rejecting the Lords amendments. I will focus particularly on ...
My hon. Friend, as I and many other Members of this House did, sought to strengthen this Bill, in...
I completely agree with my right hon. Friend. It is, as he says, one of many wrecking amendments ...
Order. We are introducing an eight-minute limit straightaway. I am hoping to get the Minister on ...
This Government remain in disarray for all the wrong reasons over this horrendous Bill. I applaud...
All Members who have sat through debates on these matters in recent years must be feeling a stron...
Does my right hon. Friend agree that measures to assess the age of children are necessary as ther...
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. When I was Home Secretary, the case was brought to me of a 42...
The right hon. Lady mentioned the Afghan scheme. I understand that the debate is about the safety...
I absolutely and fully understand the right hon. Gentleman’s position on this, but this is a mome...
It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Lady, particularly given the context she gave to this d...
I rise to reject and oppose all 10 of the Lords amendments. In the other place last week, peer af...
Order. If the right hon. and learned Gentleman could mention the amendments now and again, that w...
Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker.
That arrangement is entirely reasonable—and, as I s...
I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in the debate.
This Bill is an affront to th...
Leaving aside the decision of the Court, on Lords amendment 9 we are in danger of reversing the w...
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention and he is absolutely right in what he says....
I note your strong exhortation to address the amendments, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I will address t...
I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend for allowing me to intervene before he moves of...
My right hon. and learned Friend makes a powerful point. The amendment is capable of perfection. ...
The Democratic Unionist party supports the Bill, wishes it to come to fruition, and hopes that it...
Order. Could you mention some of the amendments as well?
Yes, I am doing so, Mr Deputy Speaker. The point I was making was that we will support the Govern...
It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson). I agree w...
We have all heard the admonitions about speaking to the amendments, but it is worth reflecting on...
Order. I intend to call the Minister to wind up at no later than 7.50 pm. I expect 10 votes, star...
It is a real pleasure to speak in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank right hon. and hon. Mem...
May I start by thanking every single right hon. and hon. Member who has contributed during the co...
Order. Before we proceed, I am informed that a Member swore at one of the Doorkeepers this evenin...
On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I put on record my apologies to the Chair, to Members, an...
I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s candour in identifying himself and the fullness of his apology,...