Great Britain
The “psychodrama” is back: Sunak could avoid revolt
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has a difficult time in his own party. Photo
© James Manning/PA Wire/dpa
Showdown in Parliament in London: Prime Minister Sunak could bring his draft deportation law through Parliament. But the debate will continue to burden him.
At the start of the election year, “Psychodrama” in the Conservative Party. In the dispute over the toughest possible migration policy, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a sharp wind from within his own ranks.
Ahead of a vote on the new asylum law scheduled for Wednesday evening, several prominent Tory right-wing MPs threatened to vote against their own government. Then, according to media reports, approval became apparent. About 30 dissenting votes from one’s own camp would be enough to overturn the law – it would be the first time since 1977 that a government bill would fail in the third reading, as the think tank Institute for Government emphasized.
Sunak went into the critical vote already damaged. On Tuesday evening, dozens of Tories in the House of Commons voted for two amendments that would tighten the asylum law against the government’s wishes. “This is a serious attack on the authority of any prime minister,” commented BBC reporter Chris Mason.
Request for asylum in Rwanda – no objection in court?
Essentially, it is about the conservative government’s plan to send irregularly entered migrants to Rwanda without examining their asylum applications and regardless of their origin. They should ask for asylum in the East African state, which critics accuse of human rights violations. They are forbidden from returning to Great Britain. To this end, Rwanda should be declared a safe third country by law. A further judicial review citing human rights in Great Britain should be ruled out.
But that doesn’t go far enough for the right-wing Tories. They demand that appeals before international courts must also be prevented – there should be no loopholes. Robert Jenrick, former migration state secretary and once confidant of Sunak, even called for withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Migration has long since become one of the most important issues in the upcoming election campaign. The Tories want to take tough action to make up for the huge gap to the social democratic Labor Party. Significantly fewer irregular migrants arrive in Great Britain than in the EU.
Sharp criticism of the planned asylum law
Opponents of the project such as the UN refugee agency are outraged. They claim that there are no legal routes into the kingdom for asylum seekers. The plans also violated obligations to protect refugees. The fact that the government wants to place itself above court decisions by law also violates the separation of powers. The government has already paid hundreds of millions of pounds to Rwanda without anyone arriving there. The Labor Party speaks of a political trick. The Rwanda pact was once conceived by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson – according to critics, to distract from the “Partygate” scandal.
Sunak denies all allegations. The voters want to solve the problem once and for all. For the prime minister, the agreement with the authoritarian President Paul Kagame is a central component of his promise to reduce the number of migrants. Sunak’s spokesman confirmed that the first deportation flights should take off by spring. In order to speed up proceedings, judges should be assigned specifically – judges’ associations question whether this is possible.
Sunak needs success
In any case, Sunak first has to overcome resistance within his own ranks. The Prime Minister desperately needs success. An exact date for the parliamentary election has not yet been set, but it is expected to take place in the fall. But if Sunak actually loses the asylum vote, it could happen much sooner, wrote Paul Goodman from the conservative blog “Conservative Home”. Sunak has little power at home anyway. Recently, the pressure became even greater after a poll predicted heavy losses for the Tories.
The resignation of party deputy chief executives Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith on Tuesday evening was a further blow to Sunak. The two politicians made it clear that they do not believe that the Rwanda draft in its current form will be successful. This verdict from within our own ranks is likely to alarm conservative voters. Anderson in particular, who has a talk show on the right-wing broadcaster GB News, was considered an important election campaigner because of his outspoken nature.
Analysts are now talking about a “civil war” in the Tory party. The dedicated campaign strategist Isaac Levido recently called on the group to unite. “Divided parties fail,” Levido said. The government was confident that it would win the vote. But the dispute is likely to deepen the division – and overshadow the election campaign. The newspaper “Guardian” already sees the party “on the brink.”