After former home secretary Suella Braverman’s “dream” Rwanda deportation plan was defeated in the courts after it was deemed unlawful, Rishi Sunak has pushed through new legislation to prove Rwanda is safe for refugees.
 
His law protects the deportation scheme from any further appeals to the courts. It’s yet another cruel attempt to fly in the face of international human rights legislation and is part of the Tories’ mission to divert blame from their own failures onto refugees.
 
The bill passed by 313 votes to 269 in the Commons, but not without significant cracks for Sunak from his own party. This wasn’t because some Tories feel sorry for refugees, but because they want the new law to be harsher and to see refugees on deportation flights.
 
The consensus for the Tories remains the racist treatment and scapegoating of refugees and migrants. But the splinters, rows and resignations are something for anti-racists to exploit as we ramp up our fightback.
 
We have to be reminded that a mass movement was able to shake Braverman from her position, and we can’t be content as James Cleverly replaces her with the same “stop the boats” campaign and racist promises. Braverman’s cruel legacy remains.
 
Sunak is attempting to make her Rwanda plan a dream come true, and he continues to make life miserable for refugees stuck in hotels and prison ships.
 
What we all feared has become a reality on the Bibby Stockholm barge. On Tuesday, a man trapped on the barge committed suicide. This tragedy brings home the real-life horrors of the Tories’ immigration policies.
 
Braverman consistently ignored warnings from refugees themselves about conditions on the barge after one refugee attempted suicide. And she dismissed the warnings from the Fire Brigades Union that the barge was a potential death trap.
 
Even after the first 39 people put on the barge were evacuated after the deadliest legionella bacteria strain was found on board, Braverman continued to affirm that it was safe. She forced them back on board with threats and fearmongering.
 
Now, there are believed to be at least 300 on the barge who continue to speak out about the awful prison-like conditions and treatment. Braverman and Sunak have his blood on their hands.
 
Every death of a refugee trapped in the Tories’ asylum system is preventable, and anti-racists must rage at the horrors that refugees suffer.
 
The Tories’ racist rhetoric creates hell for refugees, migrants and Muslims in Britain, especially as they give confidence to fascists and the far right. The Tories are in a race to the bottom as they attempt to save their crumbling votes by lurching ever rightwards.
 
They have created such a toxic environment that Nazi Tommy Robinson feels he can mobilise his fascist thugs on the streets, and Nigel Farage feels at home within the Tory Party.
 
There is no low Sunak won’t stoop to in his mission to keep refugees out. He has also announced that he will work side by side with fascists at a political festival run by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.
 
It’s time to come together to stop the hate, from the Tories’ racism, and the far right that feeds off it. At a time of increasing crisis and polarisation, the message is unity over division.
 
We must reject government attempts to scapegoat migrants and refugees and keep up the pressure to scrap the Rwanda plan and other racist legislation.
 
Anti-racists will join with LGBT+ activists, housing campaigners, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, climate change fighters, refugee groups, MPs and trade unions, on the UN International Day of the Migrant at 5.30pm on Monday December 18 outside the Home Office. We will say “Refugees welcome” and “Safe passage now” and that the Tories do not represent ordinary people.
 
We remain even more determined, in light of the most recent attacks and tragedies, to intensify the anti-racist resistance. The Tories cannot be allowed to get away with murder, from the thousands who are left to drown in the Channel to the suicide on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
 
Next year and in the run-up to the election, the Tories will only continue to ramp up their racism in an attempt to win the most votes. And Labour’s Keir Starmer also promises to keep up the racist attacks and allow the suffering of refugees and migrants.
 
As refugees die, Starmer attacks Sunak not for his racism, but for not being efficient enough at deporting refugees. The anti-racist fightback will not come from the courts or those vying for office but from ordinary people joining together in unity and diversity to push back on the racist offensive and hostile environment.
 
That’s why we will also march again in large mobilisations across Britain and internationally on March 16 to stop racism and stop the hate.

Stand Up to Racism will be holding a protest at 5.30pm on Monday December 18 outside the Home Office.