Church backs delay to Sunak’s Rwanda Bill

THE Church of England is set to back demands to delay the ratification of the Rwanda treaty as Rishi Sunak faces the first test of the strength of the opposition to his new legislation in the Lords.

For the first time in modern history, peers have exercised powers to lay a motion in the Lords seeking to halt the ratification of the bill until the Government can show that Rwanda is safe for asylum seekers.

They have set out a ten-point plan for new laws and judicial measures which they say ministers and Rwanda must put in place before the treaty can be endorsed. The motion has been put down by Lord Goldsmith, who was Sir Tony Blair’s attorney general during the Iraq War, in his capacity as chairman of the international agreements committee, which plays a critical role in the scrutiny of new treaties.

The motion states that “Her Majesty’s Government should not ratify the Uk-rwanda Agreement on an asylum partnership until the protections it provides have been fully implemented.”

Any vote in favour of the motion will not be binding but could be used by asylum seekers in future court challenges to deportation as evidence that Parliament did not regard Rwanda as safe.

If it is backed by peers, ministers will have to decide whether to ignore it and push ahead with ratification – due within the next two weeks – or accept a delay which could last months and jeopardise plans to get flights off this Spring.

Twenty four peers have been listed to speak in the debate which will provide the first public indication of the scale of opposition that the Prime Minister will face in the Lords. They include Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester, who signed a letter which said the Rwanda plan “shames Britain”.