UK’s Sunak facing revolt over Rwanda asylum plan

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced revolt from some of his own lawmakers in a parliamentary vote on his flagship migration policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda on Tuesday after they said they could not back an emergency bill to revive his scheme.

Last month, the UK Supreme Court ruled the policy of deporting those arriving illegally in small boats on England’s southern coast to the East African nation would breach British and international human rights laws and agreements.

In response, Sunak has agreed a new treaty with Rwanda and brought forward emergency legislation designed to override legal obstacles that would stop deportations.

But the move has deeply divided his Conservative Party, alienating both moderates, who are worried about Britain breaching its human rights obligations, and those on the right wing who contend it does not go far enough. Defeat in Tuesday’s vote could put his premiership in jeopardy.

“We have decided collectively that we cannot support the bill tonight because of its many omissions,” Mark Francois, speaking on behalf of right-wing Conservatives, told reporters.

In power for 13 years and trailing the opposition Labour Party by around 20 points with an election expected next year, Sunak’s Conservatives have fractured along multiple lines and lost much of their discipline.

Lawmakers on the right want to ban asylum seekers from having any legal means to appeal against deportation, after the European Court of Human Rights blocked the first Rwandan flight last year. Francois said the “bulk” of them would abstain.

Opening the parliamentary debate on the bill, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the legislation was “pushing at the edge of the envelope” on international law and could go no further.

“Parliament and the British people want an end to illegal immigration and they support the Rwanda plan,” he said.

Governments around the world are also closely watching the policy to see if it will work as they too grapple with rising migration levels. French lawmakers rejected their immigration bill last night, in a blow to President Emmanuel Macron.

It would only take about 30 Conservative lawmakers to vote with opposition parties for the government to lose the first vote on the bill in the British parliament, and a large number of abstentions might also put it at risk.

Such is the government concern that Britain’s climate minister was recalled to London from the COP28 summit in Dubai to cast a vote in parliament.

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