Lords threaten to block PM’s new Channel migrant laws after Rishi Sunak quells Tory revolt by vowing that judges won’t be able to stop Rwanda flights going ahead
- The PM is facing a huge battle to get his Illegal Migration Bill through Parliament
Rishi Sunak was today warned the House of Lords could block his new laws aimed at easing the Channel migrant crisis.
The Prime Minister will next week push ahead with his Illegal Migration Bill in the House of Commons after bowing to pressure from Tory rebels to toughen the legislation.
The Government has agreed to backbench demands to amend the Bill to give ministers the power to ignore efforts by European judges to block deportation flights.
This will allow Home Secretary Suella Braverman to sidestep interim injunctions – known as ‘Rule 39 orders’ – from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to stop Britain sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.
It comes after a judge from the Strasbourg court suspended the first of Britain’s scheduled deportation flights to Rwanda last June with a late-night ruling.
The Prime Minister will next week push ahead with his Illegal Migration Bill in the House of Commons after bowing to pressure from Tory rebels to toughen the legislation
But Rishi Sunak has been warned the House of Lords could block his new laws aimed at easing the Channel migrant crisis
Mr Sunak is facing a huge battle in the Lords to get the legislation passed with suggestions the Government’s plans will be opposed in the upper chamber
The Bill will also be reinforced to allow ministers to disregard most injunctions issued by British courts in cases brought on behalf of ‘irregular’ migrants, such as those who arrive in the UK by small boat.
The Government will table a series of amendments to the Bill later this afternoon after reaching a deal with Tory MPs who were threatening a revolt if the legislation wasn’t toughened.
But, should Mr Sunak win MPs’ approval for the Bill next week, he is facing a huge battle in the Lords to get the legislation passed.
A former Lord Chief Justice, who sits as a cross-bench peer in the Lords, this morning warned the Government’s plans would be opposed in the upper chamber.
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd said ministers’ aim to ignore rulings by the ECHR was ‘a very serious step’ and would set ‘an extraordinarily bad example’.
‘We are parties to the international agreement and it forms an important part of the structure across the whole of Europe, not just the EU,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘I certainly would think it was a step of the absolute last resort and sets an extraordinarily bad example for a country committed to the rule of law to say the Government can ignore a judicial order.’
Lord Thomas suggested the Government risked defeat by peers over the Illegal Migration Bill as it makes its passage through Parliament.
‘It’s always difficult to predict the result in the Lords,’ he added:
‘But I would have thought many people would say that having the power to ignore a court order is something that – unless the circumstances were quite extraordinary – this is a step a government should never take.
‘It is symbolic of a breach of the rule of law.’
Labour suggested ‘weak’ Mr Sunak had been forced to ‘cave in’ to Tory rebels over the Channel migrant legislation.
Thangham Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, said: ‘We are here again with a weak PM forced to cave in to appease a small minority of right-wing backbenchers. What a mess.’
Source: Read Full Article
