LABOUR peers have condemned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s latest bid to revive his Rwanda scheme as the Bill entered the House of Lords for its second reading today.
Lord Frederick Ponsonby of Shulbrede said that it was the third time in as many years the government had presented legislation aimed at stemming small boats Channel crossings.
Announcing that his party would not support it, he said: “The third year being presented with increasingly rushed, unworkable and inhumane solutions to the problem of small boats and asylum.
“The very real problem that needs fixing, this Bill, like its predecessors, will not do.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury was among some 71 members of the upper chamber expected to speak at the second reading debate of the draft law as the Morning Star went to press today.
Archbishop Justin Welby has voiced profound concerns about the plan to send asylum-seekers who cross the Channel in small boats on a one-way flight to Kigali.
Lord Carlile of Berriew, who earlier this month warned the government is moving towards “totalitarianism” in its handling of the policy, is also due to appear.
The crossbench peer has suggested the Lords would seek to undo what he described as politicians “meddling” in the independent courts.
Meanwhile, the number of migrants who made unauthorised Channel crossings of the Channel this year passed 1,000 after more than 300 made the journey at the weekend.
Mr Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill survived third reading in the Commons after the Prime Minister saw off a Tory rebellion which had sought to toughen the legislation.
Under the plan, people who cross the Channel in small boats could be removed to Rwanda rather than being allowed to seek asylum in Britain.
The legislation, along with the recently signed treaty with Kigali, is aimed at ensuring the scheme is legally watertight after the Supreme Court ruling against it last year.
In the end just 11 Conservatives voted against the legislation but it now faces a bigger test in the Lords, where many members have expressed unease about the plan.
Today, Mr Sunak urged peers against blocking “the will of the people” by opposing the Bill as he faces an election year having made “stopping the boats” a key pledge of his leadership.
His official spokesman said: “This Bill is a key part of how we stop violent criminal gangs targeting vulnerable people that has led to too many deaths in the English Channel.”
