THE government’s Rwanda Bill was branded “performative cruelty” as it returned to the Commons last night with embattled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing questions over the strength of his Tory leadership.
Anti-racist campaigners hit out at the government’s “shameful” bid to bypass a Supreme Court ruling that the country is not a safe place to deport asylum-seekers as MPs prepared to vote on 10 amendments proposed by the House of Lords earlier this month.
With the government expected to oppose all amendments, Mr Sunak faces a potentially bruising row as the Bill is batted back and forth ping-pong style between the Commons and Lords.
Campaign group Liberty said the Bill “rips basic human rights away from people who come to the UK hoping for safety for them and their loved ones.”
Left-wing Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: “The lower the Tories sink in the polls, the more desperate they are to blame refugees for all the country’s problems.”
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants charity said: “Government could be trying to fix our broken social care system or tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Instead, they’re focusing on an act of performative cruelty that almost no-one supports.”
Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research this week revealed the deportation policy wold cost billions of pounds in public funds and four times more than processing asylum-seeker claims for two years in British accommodation instead.
Today Mr Sunak insisted the Tory Party was united despite speculation about a plot to replace him as prime minister before the general election, claiming that he was “not interested” in “Westminster politics.”
His party’s dire polling has fuelled speculation about Conservative MPs considering replacing him with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt in an attempt to avoid a general election disaster.
Mr Sunak faces an appearance before the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers following the defection of Lee Anderson, whom he had promoted to deputy party chairman, to the right-wing populist Reform UK party.
The PM has also came under fire over his handling of racist comments reportedly made by major party donor Frank Hester against Diane Abbott MP.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said Labour would overhaul the asylum system with a new “returns and enforcement unit,” putting money towards improving cross-border security instead of the deportation Bill if it wins the general election.
