Welby, ex-top judge and Labour peer on mission to derail Rwanda plan
THE Archbishop of Canterbury has joined forces with a Labour peer and a former top judge in a bid to give the United Nations refugee agency an effective veto over the Government’s Rwanda scheme.
Justin Welby formally supported a series of amendments neutering the new legislation.
The changes were put forward by Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti, a former member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and were backed by Mr Welby and former head of the Supreme Court Baroness Hale.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Bill says it is for Parliament – and not the courts – to declare Rwanda a safe country, so removals flights can get off the ground by spring and deter small boat Channel crossings.
But now the Archbishop is backing changes which would instead give the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) the final say on whether the east African nation is safe. The amendments will ‘require positive UNHCR advice on the safety of Rwanda to be laid before Parliament before claims for asylum in the UK may be processed in Rwanda’, House of Lords papers show.
Anyone granted asylum would be brought back to Britain rather than remaining in Rwanda, they add.
The changes would mean that ‘no person will be removed to the Republic of Rwanda’ without the UNHCR giving the go-ahead, and the agency’s decision-making role would be written into UK law.
Last year the UNHCR positioned itself as a leading opponent of the Rwanda scheme, and its evidence played a key role in persuading Supreme Court justices to declare the policy unlawful in November.
In further moves to up-end Mr Sunak’s Bill, Baroness Chakrabarti and her two allies tabled amendments which would scupper Government proposals to ignore ‘pyjama injunctions’ issued by Strasbourg judges.
Instead, the changes would require British courts to give ‘proper regard’ to so-called Rule
39 orders issued by the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Rwanda cases.
The trio also moved to delete Government measures to ‘disapply’ the Human Rights Act and sought to restore the ability of UK courts and tribunals to block Home Office attempts to remove migrants.
Earlier this week the Archbishop was blasted by Tory MPs after he said the Rwanda scheme was ‘leading the nation down a damaging path’. He told the House of Lords on Monday night the Bill was ‘damaging Britain’s reputation and the rule of law’.
His interventions come despite his insistence in 2022, shortly after the Rwanda scheme was unveiled, that although he opposed the policy ‘the details are for politics’.
An aide to Home Secretary James Cleverly said: ‘We simply disagree with [Mr Welby] and believe the Bill and our partnership with Rwanda do not truly reflect the criticisms he makes.’
The aide also pointed out the UNHCR already operates a scheme sending refugees to Rwanda.
Tory backbencher Tom Hunt suggested it was time to review bishops’ right to take part in parliamentary debates.
Last night Mr Hunt said of Mr Welby’s stance: ‘Each day that passes that he continues to make these sort of interventions the Church of England loses more and more followers.’
Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tougher border controls, said: ‘All this unsurprising alliance of lords spiritual and temporal will achieve, if the amendments succeed, is in thwarting the will of the majority while encouraging more people – mostly young men – to risk their lives to get to the UK.’
A Lambeth Palace spokesman said: ‘The amendments [the archbishop] has supported ensure that our immigration policy complies with the rule of law.’
Human rights challenges have left the Rwanda scheme floundering in legal limbo for 18 months.
Mr Sunak’s Bill aims to declare Rwanda a safe country and overcome objections raised by the Supreme Court. A new treaty with the east African nation also sets out a list of safeguards for asylum seekers sent there under the plan.
‘Thwarting the will of the majority’
THERE can be little doubt that the British people are overwhelmingly in favour of a tougher crackdown on illegal immigration.
Every poll shows rising anger about the small boats smuggling Channel migrants to the south coast with apparent impunity. Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill is an important piece of the jigsaw designed to end these deadly crossings and regain control of our borders.
Yet the emergency legislation is under ferocious attack in the House of Lords, which never needs to worry about voters.
This time, an unholy trinity of unaccountable members are conspiring. Not just to revise the Bill, but to destroy it completely.
One is Justin Welby, the hand-wringing Archbishop of Canterbury. The others are Baroness Chakrabarti – a Corbynite human rights lawyer – and ex-Supreme Court judge Baroness Hale, who wore a spider brooch while ruling against the Government as Boris Johnson struggled to get Brexit done.
Of all their amendments, the most pernicious would hand the UN high commissioner for refugees the final say on deportations to Rwanda. That would give the supranational organisation an effective veto over laws passed by Parliament – a monumental affront to democracy.
The truth is, high-minded proselytisers such as Welby, Chakrabarti and Hale are too divorced from reality to grasp popular support for tackling the small boats.
The arrival of illegal migrants – often in areas that can least afford to accommodate them – puts pressure on local resources, infrastructure and social cohesion.
An estimated 1,100 have crossed the Channel this year alone, yet liberal-Left peers denounce the Rwanda plan without offering any viable solution to end this crisis.
The Lords often pompously boast that Britain brought democracy to the world. It’s hardly democratic if they continue to ignore public fury over immigration.