The Rwanda Bill today returns to the House of Commons for two days of debate prior to Third Reading tomorrow night. Rishi Sunak’s flagship legislation is now at committee stage – which means that any MP can lay down amendments. Those from Labour and the SNP are unlikely to trouble the government much, given it still has a working majority of 54.
Instead, the main focus is on the right of the Conservative party. More than 60 Tory MPs have now signed a series of amendments to try to strengthen the bill, which they predict will be thwarted in the courts. Veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick have led the way on this, tabling amendments that deal with four specific issues in the bill. The full list of amendments are found on the House of Commons paper here.
The ‘notwithstanding’ clause
Tabled by Sir Bill Cash, amendment 10 aims to strengthen the ‘notwithstanding’ clause which stipulates that both UK and international law cannot be used to ‘prevent or delay the removal to Rwanda of any individual’. This is designed to stop the scheme being frustrated by either the Supreme Court in London or the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.
Excluding the HRA
Amendments 11-18 are laid by Robert Jenrick and aim to exclude the Human Rights Act more completely than the current version of the Bill.
Rejecting individual claims
The second set of amendments tabled by Robert Jenrick are numbers 19-22 which aim to stop the scheme from being – in the words of one rebel – ‘bogged down’ in a series of legal challenges. His fear is that every migrant due to be sent to Kigali could simply appeal, even if the scheme as a whole is judged to be lawful. He therefore wants to restrict as much as possible the ability for people to lodge individual appeals against removal to Rwanda.
Preventing ‘pyjama injunctions‘
The third set of amendments in the name of Robert Jenrick are numbers 23-25 and they deal with interim junctions from the ECHR – the Rule 39 indications. These have been dubbed ‘pyjama injunctions’ by Tory MPs after an ECHR judge issued a last-minute late-night ruling to block the first deportation flight to Rwanda in June 2022. Jenrick’s amendments would make Rule 39 indications explicitly a matter for ministerial discretion.
Comments