Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives an update on the plan to “stop the boats” and illegal migration during a press conference in the Downing Street Briefing Room in London, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023. (James Manning/Pool via AP)
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a special press conference with just an hours notice Thursday to announce that the government will seek to disapply sections of the Human Rights Act in order to deem Rwanda a safe country and facilitate deportations in a new bill.
Speaking to journalists, Sunak declared the introduction of the “toughest anti-immigration law” acknowledging that it would “upset some people” and attract criticism.
The Prime Minister, who repeated that he was a child of immigrants himself, differentiated his family’s legal migration and community integration from current illegal crossings.
The new legislation, according to Sunak, “fundamentally addresses” issues highlighted by a Supreme Court judgement in November that Rwanda was an unsafe country for refugees to be deported back to. Sunak said he respected but disagreed with the ruling. He said that
Sunak claimed that the Supreme Court’s decision, opposing the government’s plan, pertained to a “specific moment 18 months ago.”
“Today, we are confirming that they have been and that Rwanda is unequivocally a safe country,” he said, promising to end the “merry-go-round of legal challenges” and underline parliamentary sovereignty over court decisions.
The Prime Minister highlighted the bill’s capability to “block every single reason ever used to prevent flights from Rwanda from taking off.”
He said the bill would curtail domestic courts’ use of modern slavery laws or “spurious human rights claims” to halt deportations. The legislation also limits illegal migrants’ ability to seek judicial review.
Conservative politicians on the party’s right wing are increasingly unsettled, spurred by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who said the bill will fail, and a general dismay in the current strategy after the Wednesday resignation of Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who believed the bill does “not go far enough.” With the first vote on the bill next Tuesday, Sunak will find trouble if just 29 politicians on the Tory right joined with Labour to vote it down.
In a flag of appeal to his party colleagues, Sunak warned that if he had taken his demands any further the Rwandan government would have collapsed
In closing, Sunak warned the European Court of Human Rights against interference, asserting his readiness to “do what is necessary” to ensure the enforcement of these flights.