Don’t blame the Lords for delays – it’s all the Government’s doing
Yesterday the Prime Minister blamed the Labour Party for his Government’s failure to pass the Rwanda Bill into law.
Sunak said that it was Labour’s support for two Lords’ amendments that meant the bill back was sent back to the commons by peers in a process known as “ping-pong”.
This claim is mathematically illiterate, which is ironic given Sunak’s insistence some time ago that the level of maths in this country should be improved.
At present there are 277 Conservative peers, 219 crossbencher or independent peers, 172 Labour peers and 80 Liberal Democrats. In addition, there are 25 bishops and 14 others. It is therefore clear that the Conservatives outnumber Labour, and that crossbenchers and the independents are the second largest grouping.
Of those 277 Conservative peers only 193 backed the Government on the first amendment and 189 the second. This means that 84 Conservatives didn’t vote on the first amendment and 88 did not vote on the second. The reason the Conservatives lost both votes wasn’t because of the Labour Party but because a number of Tory peers declined to vote and a large number of the crossbenchers and independents voted against the Government.
Turning to the first of the amendments, Lord Hope, a
crossbencher, simply wanted to put in place a safeguard lest the situation in Rwanda should prove unsafe for asylum seekers. This was to be done by means of an independent monitoring committee.
The second amendment, in the name of Lord Browne of Ladyton, was in support of those Afghans who had helped the British forces. The Government has already made commitments to them and it would be outrageous if they were to be included in the list of people who are to be sent to Rwanda. It must be very embarrassing for the Tories to have to oppose an amendment that was to protect Afghans who served with and were loyal to the British Armed Forces.
The Government should understand that the rule of law and our international agreements and obligations fundamentally protect our way of life and uphold our international reputation. This bill undermines both.
Both the amendments are modest. Their aim is to improve the bill, not frustrate it. Improving legislation is, after all, the job of members of the Lords, of all parties. The Government has failed to put forward any arguments as to why these amendments shouldn’t be accepted. How disappointing that Andrew Mitchell MP should try to claim racism as the reason why peers defeated the Government. He also claimed that Kigali was safer than London.
The truth is that a number of Rwandans have in recent years fled the country and been granted refugee status in the UK. In addition, the Supreme Court held some time ago that Rwanda was not a safe country. So much for the Prime Minister blaming foreign courts.
I know for a fact that many Tories are very unhappy about the Safety of Rwanda Bill, even if some of them have decided out of party loyalty to support the Government.
It is party-political mischiefmaking for the Prime Minister to try to blame the Labour Party for his own failure to get his flagship bill through Parliament, a promise he claimed he would honour “by the spring”. We’re now told flights won’t be ready to take off, if indeed they do, before July at the earliest.
Alf Dubs is a Labour peer in the House of Lords