I will start in order with Lords amendment 1D in the name of Lord Coaker. The Minister asked why the Government ought to have due regard for those particular pieces of legislation—why would we want to have due regard for international law and various Acts, including the Children Act 1989, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Modern Slavery Act 2015? Well, the reason is found on the face of the Bill, which states, in the name of the Home Secretary:
“I am unable to make a statement that, in my view, the provisions of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill are compatible with the Convention rights, but the Government nevertheless wishes the House to proceed with the Bill.”
The Government are setting out to undermine our international obligations, so it is quite right for the Lords to insist that we abide by them. That is the very least the Government should be doing. There are implications for children, for people who have been victims of slavery and trafficking, and for people whose human rights will be abused. The Government should be paying far more attention to that.
On Lords amendment 3E in the name of Lord Hope, there is significance in ensuring that the monitoring committee can do its job properly. It is not clear in what circumstances Rwanda can be declared not safe. The monitoring committee is supposed to produce an annual report that then goes up the chain to the Joint Committee, but there is no mechanism for the committee to blow the whistle should something happen. There is no mechanism for it to say, “Suddenly, something has happened and Rwanda is no longer safe.” What happens in that circumstance to those recommendations? How are they acted on, and what then happens to the people the UK wants to send to Rwanda?
There no such mechanism in this legislation—or, as far as I can see, in the treaty, which involves a three-month delay, and the agreement of both parties, before anything can be annulled. What happens should something untoward occur in Rwanda? I referred to the action of the M23 rebels in my remarks earlier this week, but the Minister did not respond to it in his summing up. What happens if something goes awry? We do not know; we are beholden to the Government’s assertion that Rwanda is safe in perpetuity. There is no mechanism to remove the perpetuity of Rwanda’s designation as “safe.”
I highlight the experience of the Irish author and journalist Sally Hayden, who wrote “My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route”. She has raised concerns about the mechanisms of scrutiny in Rwanda itself, and about the treatment of refugees in Rwanda. She has visited the country on several occasions, but was denied entry last month as she went to cover the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. She has tried to resolve that with the Rwandan authorities, but believes that she was refused entry precisely because she has criticised them and their treatment of refugees. Should that not alarm us all when it comes to the scrutiny of the Bill both here and in Rwanda? She said:
“Proper scrutiny of the consequences of this policy are not possible because it’s not a country with freedom of media and freedom of speech”.
We should be deeply concerned about that. Without that independence and scrutiny, we cannot be certain that what is happening in Rwanda is what the UK Government intend or what the Rwandan Government are telling us. Press freedom is crucial for that level of scrutiny, beyond the supposedly independent monitoring committee. I support amendment 3E.
I also support amendment 6D, in the name of Baroness Chakrabarti, because it stands up for the right of our own authorities to make proper decisions. It empowers our decision makers and our courts, as they should be empowered, to look at the evidence before them and make proper decisions. The Government are asking the judiciary, immigration officers, tribunals and everybody in the system to engage in a legal fantasy—that they
should ignore all the evidence before them and believe the Government when they say that Rwanda is safe in perpetuity. With reference to proposed new subsection 1(c), which deals with refoulement, I remind the House that Rwanda engaged in the refoulement of several persons during the negotiation of the treaty, never mind at any time. We should be worried about that.
Lords amendment 10D proposes the new clause, “Exemption for agents, allies and employees of the UK Overseas”. We had an urgent question earlier today about the people from Afghanistan who are being yeeted out of Pakistan. The Pakistani Government are apparently pleading by using Rwanda as some kind of justification for that behaviour. That really indicates the ripple effect of what the Government are doing: other countries are praying in aid this legislation when they look to do things that we also have concerns about.
3.15 pm
In that UQ, I raised the point that we have been waiting three years for the UK Government to get their act together on the Afghan relocations and assistance policy and the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme. People should not still be waiting in uncertainty and fear, with the prospect of being executed by the Taliban should they be removed back to Afghanistan. It is absolutely unacceptable and unjustifiable that the Government have done so little in three years to protect Afghans who served alongside our forces in Afghanistan.
The very least the Government could do is approve the proposed new clause in Lords amendment 10D, to acknowledge that the people who served with us deserve protection—that the people who are coming on small boats because the Government schemes have failed to protect them should be exempt from being sent to Rwanda. The Government are refusing to accept that, and I think that is absolutely despicable.
With the best will in the world, those amendments are not enough. Even if we passed them, the Rwanda Bill is a turd that cannot be polished—it is absolutely disgusting and objectionable in every sense. Will the Labour party repeal it? The Bill will pass, but will Labour Members repeal it as one of their first actions in government, or keep it in statute? I would like to have an answer on the record.
I reiterate my deep concerns that this is state-sponsored people trafficking. Whichever way we cut it, it means moving people to another country against their will and without their consent. That is people trafficking. The Government cannot find a commercial airline to take people, but even more concerning is that they are engaging a Royal Air Force contractor, AirTanker, to remove people to Rwanda against their will.
The position of the Scottish National party remains that we oppose the Bill in every single sense. I will vote against it at every given opportunity—even in the Reasons Room behind your Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker—because it is despicable and does not stand in Scotland’s name.