“I want these flights to start as soon as possible”British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters Thursday morning as his government teetered on a knife’s edge waiting for the House of Commons to pass its controversial law to deport illegal immigrants arriving across the Channel. to Rwanda. Shortly afterwards the law passed the acid test and Sunak appealed to the House of Lords to have the project approved definitively.
The government does not set a date for the deportation flights, but aim to start in spring (boreal). Sunak thus passed the test this Wednesday that put his leadership in danger, with a dissident current in the Conservative Party that threatened to scupper his project in the House of Commons.
Despite the threat of rebel MPs from his party, the lower house of the British parliament approved the text with 320 votes in favor and 276 againstso now the matter will go to the House of Lords a second exam.
After two vice presidents of his party he resigned Tuesday in disagreement with his plan and the rebel current had around sixty deputies against the project, of the 349 conservatives present in parliament, the dissidents did not vote against and the bill continues to advance.
Sunak, in power from October 2022, has one of his priorities reduce immigration and this plan to deport foreigners who arrived in the UK irregularly to Rwanda It is an important electoral resource.
Sunak’s leadership at stake
If the bill had not passed, Sunak’s leadership within the party would be questioned, in a year of legislative elections and with the Conservatives unable to get closer to the Labor Party, whose leader, Keir Starmer, is considered the winner by a wide margin in polls.
After its first passage in December, the bill was considered for two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, in the House of Commons.
The approximately sixty rebel MPs of the Conservative Party they wanted to introduce amendmentsconsidering that the text of expulsion of irregular immigrants It doesn’t go far enough.
This bill aims respond to objections from the British Supreme Courtwho considered it it was illegal in its previous version.
Sunak has tried to maneuver in recent months to keep the right wing of his party on his side, without losing the support of the more moderate ones.
Two Conservative Party vice-presidents, Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith, resigned on Tuesday, after announcing their support for the amendments defended by the rebels on Monday.
They were joined by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is not an MP and was unable to vote on Wednesday, but who He showed his support for the dissidents.
The bill must now be approved by members of the House of Lords who are not elected officials, where The government does not have a majority.
Once any changes introduced by the House of Lords have passed, the project will eventually need to be addressed to new judicial resources of organizations opposed to the bill.
After being announced in April 2022 by Boris Johnson’s government, the project was blocked first by the European Court of Human Rights and then by the British judicial system, which declared it illegal.
Trying to save the plan, the new text defines Rwanda as a safe country and prohibits immigrants from being expelled from there to their country of origin.
The new text proposes not to apply some points of British human rights law, to limit legal remedies.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.