Sunak takes next hurdle with Rwanda law: internal party fight opens up Nearly 33 tons of cocaine confiscated in Bolivia in 2023

It must have been a tough few hours for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who emerged battered despite winning the vote. In the dispute over his country’s asylum policy, he prevailed over resistance within the party. A new law aimed at enforcing deportations to Rwanda, East Africa, received the necessary votes in the House of Representatives on Wednesday evening. This means that it has overcome a new hurdle in the legislative process. But for Sunak, the dispute over the direction of the Conservative Party means a difficult start to the election year.

Internal party fighting breaks out openly

Several members of the party’s right wing had threatened to vote against their government because the law did not go far enough for them, and the plan is already drawing criticism from the UN refugee agency, for example. Ultimately, eleven of Sunak’s party members voted against the bill, the PA news agency reported. A total of 320 MPs voted in favor and 276 against.

British politicians have been discussing the issue for some time. On Tuesday evening, dozens of Tories voted in the House of Commons for two amendments that would tighten the asylum law. “This is a serious attack on the authority of any prime minister,” said BBC reporter Chris Mason.

Essentially, it concerns the conservative government’s plan to send illegally entered migrants to Rwanda without examining their asylum claims and regardless of their origin. They would have to seek asylum in the East African state, which critics accuse of human rights abuses. They are banned from returning to Britain. To this end, Rwanda must be declared a safe third country by law. Any further judicial review citing human rights in Britain should be ruled out.

Some want to break with human rights treaties

But that doesn’t go far enough for the right-wing Tories. They demand that appeals to international courts should also be prevented – there should be no loopholes. Robert Jenrick, former Secretary of State for Migration and onetime confidant of Sunak, even called for withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Interior Ministry now wants to instruct officials that if the court in Strasbourg objects to deportation flights, they must consult the government, which will then decide whether to override any objections. A trade union sharply criticized this: civil servants would be faced with an impossible choice: either violate international law, defy the government or even resign from their positions.

The topic of migration dominates the political debate

Migration has long become one of the most important issues in the upcoming election campaign. The British must elect a new parliament by January 2025. A date has not yet been set, but it is expected to take place in the fall. The Tories want to take a decidedly tough approach to closing the huge gap in the polls with the social-democratic Labor Party. Significantly fewer irregular migrants are arriving in Britain than in the EU.

Opponents of the project, such as the UN refugee agency, are furious. The plans conflicted with obligations to protect refugees. The fact that the government wants to place itself above the courts by law also conflicts with the separation of powers. The highest British court had declared the government’s plans inadmissible, citing, among other things, the situation in Rwanda.

The announcement is intended to scare people away

The government has already paid hundreds of millions of pounds to Rwanda without anyone arriving. The project is mainly intended as a deterrent. It remains to be seen whether this will actually happen in the end. The pact was once devised by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson – according to critics to divert attention from the ‘Partygate’ scandal.

In the next step, the law now goes to the British House of Lords, the second chamber in the legislative process. Sunak defends the plan. Voters want to solve the problem once and for all. For him, the agreement with Rwanda’s authoritarian President Paul Kagame is a central part of his promise to reduce the number of migrants. Sunak’s spokesman confirmed that the first deportation flights should start in the spring. To speed up the procedure, judges must be specifically appointed; Judges’ associations wonder whether this is possible.

The fact that deputy party leaders Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith resigned in protest on Tuesday evening marked a further setback. The two made it clear that they did not believe the Rwanda draft would be successful in its current form. Anderson in particular, who has a talk show on right-wing broadcaster GB News, was considered a key campaigner because of his outspoken nature. Analysts are now talking about a ‘civil war’ within the Tory party. Dedicated campaign strategist Isaac Levido recently called on the group to unite. “Divided parties,” Levido said, “fail.” (sda/dpa)