UK’s Sunak survives knife-edge vote
LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak survived a key test of his leadership Wednesday, fending off right-wing rebels to win a crunch parliamentary vote on his contentious plan to send migrants to Rwanda.
Sunak, in power since October 2022, has staked his political future on the scheme, as Britain gears up for its next general election later this year.
Right-wing Conservatives had threatened to kill the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, but they ultimately backed down and the government won comfortably by 320 votes to 276.
The result means Sunak avoids a serious weakening of his authority, as his factionridden party desperately needs to claw back support from the main opposition Labour party before the nationwide vote.
The bill is the British leader’s answer to a UK Supreme Court ruling late last year that deporting asylum seekers to Kigali is illegal under international law.
The latest legislation, if passed, would compel judges to treat Rwanda as a safe third country.
It would also give UK ministers powers to disregard sections of international and British human rights legislation.
While the bill cleared its third and final hurdle in the elected House of Commons, it will need to be approved by the unelected upper chamber House of Lords before it becomes law.
The government does not hold a majority in the Lords, where members are likely to scrutinise the proposals and offer a number of amendments, setting up another battle with Downing Street. The legislation could also still be blocked by legal challenges, drawing out the long-running saga – dubbed a “farce” and a “gimmick” by Labour – even further.
Chris Hopkins, political research director at polling firm Savanta, said “the public perception of the government’s incompetence around immigration still remains deeprooted and may only move when planes to Rwanda actually take off”.
“Even then, it’s going to take a lot more for the Conservative Party to claw back its credibility on this issue,” he told AFP.
“As of now, all they have managed to achieve is highlighting their own internal divisions to an unimpressed electorate.”
London has already paid Kigali £240 million (280 million euros) since ex-prime minister Boris Johnson first announced the plan in April 2022.
Sunak has pledged to slash record levels of regular migration and stop asylum seekers crossing from France to Britain in small boats. He insists the Rwanda bill is essential to deter migrants from considering travelling to the United Kingdom via unauthorised routes.