The Illegal Migration Bill has passed its final Commons stage before it goes up to the Lords – but not without a number of blows being dealt by Conservative MPs. The legislation, which ministers claim will help ‘stop the boats’ crossing the Channel, passed its third reading in the Commons 289 votes to 230. But ministers had a miserable time trying to defend it: not from attacks from the Labour benches, but from their own side.
One climbdown on child detention means ministers will work with backbenchers on a ‘new timescale’ for the number of days unaccompanied children could be detained without court approval. This meant Tim Loughton did not push his specific amendment on this to a vote, though the timescale isn’t yet specified in the legislation. This was just one of the rebel changes proposed by Tory MPs: the really painful criticism came from some of the most senior figures in the Tory party.
Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman often characterise the opponents of the Illegal Migration Bill as being ‘lefty lawyers’, but today a demonstrably not-lefty lawyer Sir Geoffrey Cox blasted in his baritone voice what he said was ministers asking MPs ‘to give legislative sanction to at least the possibility that the minister of the crown will deliberately disobey the international law obligations of this country’. Theresa ‘hostile environment’ May was also talking about a ‘slap in the face for those of us who actually care about modern slavery’ and waring that the ‘government will be ensuring that more people will stay enslaved’.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith expressed similar concerns about what he said would be ‘unintended consequences’ for victims of modern slavery. Later in the session, May pulled a series of disbelieving faces at Robert Jenrick as he tried to argue that Rwanda was a safe place for victims of modern slavery. The Immigration Minister asked IDS and May to continue working with him on the government’s amendments purporting to protect slavery victims.
As many MPs said throughout the debate, the real fight comes when the Bill moves up to the Lords. It’s not so much what happens to the legislation when peers examine it in detail, as what Sunak decides to hold out on when the amendments return to the Commons for ‘ping-pong’, which is the back-and-forth between the two Houses over what members will accept. Tory rebels of a different persuasion to May, Cox, et al., who want the government to be as tough as possible, are expecting their own showdown at this point where the Prime Minister is forced to reveal his ‘true colours’ on whether he wants to be as tough as Braverman.
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