LONDON – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposed new bill aimed at deporting migrants arriving in Britain illegally to Rwanda will be voted on in a heavily debated session of parliament on Tuesday.
A month after Britain’s High Court ruled the policy illegal, Mr Sunak hopes the new bill will fulfill his pledge to stem the flow of people crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Here are some more details about the proposed plan and the immigration issue:
WHY IS IMMIGRATION SUCH AN IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR BRITAIN?
Retaking control of the country’s borders and curbing the free movement of people was a major factor in the 2016 referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union.
According to the polling company YouGov, immigration is currently ranked as the second most important issue in Britain, after the economy.
Successive Conservative governments had promised to reduce the level of immigration to less than 100,000 a year, but did not mention this pledge again in 2019.
In 2022, a new record of 745,000 people was reached, partly due to arrivals from Ukraine and Hong Kong.
In response, Mr. Sunak’s government presented last week a series of measures that would reduce this figure by 300,000 fewer people.
Meanwhile, in 2022, a record of 45,775 people arrived without the permission of the authorities in small boats on the southern coast of England. So far for 2023, almost 29,000 more have arrived.
WHAT DOES BRITAIN’S PLAN FOR RWANDA REPRESENT?
The plan, agreed in April 2022 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson, was aimed at discouraging migrants from making the dangerous nearly 20-mile (32 km) journey across the English Channel in small boats or dinghies.
Under that plan, anyone who arrived in Britain illegally after January 1 last year could be sent to Rwanda, nearly 6,400 kilometers away.
However, the first deportation flight in June 2022 was blocked by a last-minute measure by the European Court of Human Rights.
Last month, the Supreme Court unanimously decided to uphold a ruling that declared the plan illegal, because Rwanda was not a safe third country and the migrants risked being sent back to their home countries where they could be mistreated.
Although no deportations have taken place, Britain has already paid Rwanda 240 million pounds.
WHY IS THIS PLAN SO IMPORTANT TO PRIME MINISTER SUNAK?
After becoming prime minister in October last year, Mr Sunak made “stopping the boats” one of his top five priorities, but right-wing members of his Conservative Party want him to go further.
Polls show the Conservatives trailing the opposition Labor Party by around 20 points and a senior former minister said they would face “electoral defeat” in elections due next year if he did not implement the plan.
Britain is currently spending over £3 billion a year processing asylum claims, with the costs of housing migrants awaiting a decision in hotels and other facilities running at around £8 million a day.
According to government figures for August, the number of asylum applications awaiting a preliminary decision reached a record of over 134,000, or if dependents are included, 175,457. Prime Minister Sunak had promised to solve this situation.
Sending an asylum seeker to the African country would cost an average of £169,000, the government has said.
WHAT IS THE NEW EMERGENCY PROJECT LAW PROPOSED BY PRIME MINISTER SUNAK?
To address the issues raised by the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Sunak has agreed to a new treaty with Rwanda and introduced emergency legislation seeking to override laws that would prevent the deportation plan from being implemented.
The proposal exempts some sections of the British Human Rights Act and says that only ministers will decide whether to implement orders from the European Court of Human Rights.
However, his right-wing critics, many of whom want Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, have said the proposal does not go far enough to avoid the courts blocking deportations. His immigration minister has resigned.
Mr. Sunak said Rwanda would withdraw from the plan if the bill was deemed a violation of international human rights laws. Centrist conservatives are also concerned that the law goes too far.
WILL THE EMERGENCY LAW BE APPROVED?
The “Rwanda Security Bill” faces a tough vote on Tuesday in the House of Commons, where Mr Sunak’s Conservatives currently hold a majority of 56 votes.
In theory this means that if 29 MPs rebel, or 56 abstain, the government will lose the vote, although the proposal could also pass with the support of independents or Northern Ireland lawmakers.
Defeat would also put the position of Prime Minister Sunak in danger.
Even if he is able to win the necessary votes – Tuesday is only the first round – the legislation could be blocked by the upper house, the House of Lords, preventing the proposal from becoming law before the election.
HOW DOES BRITAIN COMPARE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IN REGARDS TO IMMIGRATION?
Australia was the first country to propose the concept of holding asylum seekers in offshore detention centres. Denmark has signed a similar agreement with Rwanda, but has yet to send any migrants there.
Israel canceled a similar agreement with Rwanda in 2018 after five years, after Israel’s Supreme Court declared it illegal because Rwanda had failed to honor guarantees it had made.
Some EU countries are also strengthening their border controls. Italy has recently announced plans to build reception centers in Albania for migrants arriving by sea.
According to the House of Commons Library, which provides research resources for British lawmakers, there were about 13 asylum applications for every 10,000 people living in Britain in 2022, compared with 22 applications for every 10,000 people in the European Union.