Controversial asylum pact with Rwanda: new setback for Sunak

In a dispute with the House of Commons, members of the British House of Lords have initially put the brakes on the planned deportations of refugees to Rwanda. This is another defeat for Prime Minister Sunak.

It’s a massive defeat. The members of the upper house have introduced seven amendments. They didn’t want to simply agree to the legislation that would allow refugees to be deported to Rwanda.

The dispute being fought between the two chambers of parliament is more tangible than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assumed. The resistance is supported by Labor politicians and so-called “crossbenchers” who cannot be assigned to any faction, but also extends into the Tories’ circle. Lord Deben called upon a Conservative icon, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to argue that she would never have presented such a thing and that she was committed to international law.

But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak actually wants to make it easier and, in short, define Rwanda as a safe third country, even if the highest British court came to the conclusion that this is not the case at all. The world is flat, that’s it.

Conservatives want to score points in the election year

Now things are getting more complicated for Rishi Sunak and the government’s defined goal: “Stop the boats”. Right-wing Conservative MPs complain that the government can’t get it done. They want to keep a promise in the election year that the government will get migration under control and curb the crossing of refugees across the English Channel. And the deportations to Rwanda are intended to act as a deterrent. “Should” because no one can predict with certainty whether that will actually be the case.

The opposition has long been making fun of the back and forth, the torturous twists and turns that the government is undertaking to somehow manage this “gimmick” – as Labor leader Keir Starmer calls it. “How did the Prime Minister manage to spend 700 million euros of taxpayers’ money on a gimmick to be able to deport 300 people?” Starmer asked rhetorically in Parliament’s Question Time yesterday. The opposition accuses the government of the costs being completely out of control.

Rwanda policy does not solve problem

Labor MP Neil Coyle summed it up in a vivid picture in the House of Commons earlier this week: The company Virgin Galactic would shoot six people into space for the price the government pays to bring a refugee to Rwanda.

In 2022, almost 46,000 refugees came to England across the English Channel, and in 2023 only just under 30,000. These are small numbers compared to international standards and should not cause concern if the asylum system works. But in Great Britain there are too few caseworkers, the procedures take a long time, the accommodation costs money, and the returns are difficult if they are rejected. It is a problem that Rwanda policy will not resolve.