UK Parliament / Open data

UK-Rwanda Partnership

Ministerial statement on Wednesday, 6 December 2023, in the House of Commons, led by James Cleverly.
Statement on the asylum partnership agreement with Rwanda.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

742 cc433-453 

Session

2023-24

Department

Home Office

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Proceeding contributions

James Cleverly | 742 cc433-5 (Link to this contribution)

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement about the Government’s plan to sto...

Nigel Evans | 742 c435 (Link to this contribution)

The usual rule applies: only those who have been here for the statement should stand to ask a que...


Show all contributions (110)
Yvette Cooper | 742 cc435-7 (Link to this contribution)

I thank the Home Secretary for advance sight of the statement.

There is total chaos in the ...

James Cleverly | 742 c437 (Link to this contribution)

The calls for more from the right hon. Lady’s own Back Benchers are well placed. I was hoping tha...

Nigel Evans | 742 c437 (Link to this contribution)

Can people please focus on asking a question and not making statements, and please can we hear th...

Priti Patel | 742 c437 (Link to this contribution)

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. Clearly, he is becoming incredibly familiar with ...

James Cleverly | 742 cc437-8 (Link to this contribution)

The UK takes its international obligations incredibly seriously. The Human Rights Act is, in part...

Diana Johnson | 742 c438 (Link to this contribution)

When the permanent secretary came before the Home Affairs Select Committee last week, he was unab...

James Cleverly | 742 c438 (Link to this contribution)

Let me make it absolutely clear: we remain committed to our promise to publish the costs of the s...

Natalie Elphicke | 742 c438 (Link to this contribution)

The Prime Minister said that he would not allow a foreign court to block his Rwanda plans—meaning...

James Cleverly | 742 c438 (Link to this contribution)

Throughout this plan, we have made it clear that we will remain in conformity with international ...

Alison Thewliss | 742 cc438-9 (Link to this contribution)

Humpty Dumpty said, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor l...

James Cleverly | 742 c439 (Link to this contribution)

It is a shame that the hon. Lady’s comments are clearly based on what I can only assume is a curs...

John Hayes | 742 c439 (Link to this contribution)

The new Home Secretary will be aware and welcome the fact that he will be gauged, indeed judged, ...

James Cleverly | 742 c440 (Link to this contribution)

The right is for Ministers to decide on our response to a rule 39 application. That is in the Bil...

Tony Lloyd | 742 c440 (Link to this contribution)

The United States Department of State’s annual country report on Rwanda says that among its human...

James Cleverly | 742 c440 (Link to this contribution)

The Supreme Court, when it handed down its decision, focused on two elements of the situation in ...

Liam Fox | 742 c440 (Link to this contribution)

It is long overdue that we got to grips with the current levels of both legal and illegal immigra...

James Cleverly | 742 c441 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We do not do this because it is easy, or because it is ...

Stella Creasy | 742 c441 (Link to this contribution)

I am sure, Mr Deputy Speaker, you will soon be updating us on when the next personal statement mi...

James Cleverly | 742 c441 (Link to this contribution)

This legislation does not change our relationship with the ECHR.

Shailesh Vara | 742 c441 (Link to this contribution)

Some in this House take the view that our proposals are not the way to treat asylum seekers. Does...

James Cleverly | 742 c441 (Link to this contribution)

This country has always been, and remains, incredibly generous to people who are fleeing persecut...

Janet Daby | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

Government briefings suggest that the Government wanted to go further with the Bill but the Rwand...

James Cleverly | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

That speculation is not accurate. Within the whole of this negotiation, we have always made it cl...

Richard Graham | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

Over the past few years, we have taken over half a million refugees from different parts of the w...

James Cleverly | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is so important for us to break the trade in human misery ...

Justin Madders | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

I want to know how much this shambles has cost the British taxpayer so far and how much it will c...

James Cleverly | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

Again, I find this rather strange. As the House knows, I have already answered that in saying tha...

Harriett Baldwin | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

The UK-Rwanda partnership is a long-standing one. I first went to the country 15 years ago and ha...

James Cleverly | 742 c442 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend asks an incredibly important question. I have recently returned from Rwanda. I hav...

Christine Jardine | 742 c443 (Link to this contribution)

I am afraid that I have heard nothing from the Home Secretary today that persuades me that the Rw...

James Cleverly | 742 c443 (Link to this contribution)

Obviously, my plan is to make this work.

David Jones | 742 c443 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend is to be congratulated on his commendable efforts to address a problem that ...

James Cleverly | 742 c443 (Link to this contribution)

I can give my right hon. Friend the reassurance that we do not envisage that this will frustrate ...

Clive Efford | 742 c443 (Link to this contribution)

Can the Home Secretary confirm that he went to Rwanda intending to get a treaty that went much fu...

James Cleverly | 742 c443 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Member’s question started with an error, and got worse from that point onwards. The simp...

Caroline Johnson | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

I thank the Home Secretary for his efforts to tackle a problem that is of great concern to my con...

James Cleverly | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

The provision for individual claims is nothing to do with the safety of Rwanda, and that is the i...

Hywel Williams | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

The ECHR is fundamental to the operation of our Senedd in Wales. Has the Home Secretary taken ful...

James Cleverly | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

We have no intention of leaving the ECHR, so the hon. Member’s concerns are unwarranted.

Paul Holmes | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary has delivered his deal with his typical efficiency and transparency, and that ...

James Cleverly | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that this is part of a plan that has a number of elements. The...

Chris Bryant | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary has twice refused to answer the question of whether the Immigration Minister h...

James Cleverly | 742 c444 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Gentleman always has an amusing turn of phrase, but his question is not one for me. If h...

Tim Loughton | 742 c445 (Link to this contribution)

I echo the Home Secretary’s praise of the patience shown by Rwanda, whose integrity has been seve...

James Cleverly | 742 c445 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point, which proves that, when the UK makes our case...

Imran Hussain | 742 c445 (Link to this contribution)

The reality is that the Government are making a mockery of international law and playing with peo...

James Cleverly | 742 c445 (Link to this contribution)

We are not breaking international law.

Bob Blackman | 742 c445 (Link to this contribution)

Clearly, the most important thing about this proposal is to deter desperate people from leaving a...

James Cleverly | 742 c445 (Link to this contribution)

My intention, and the intention of the Government, is to ensure that this is operationalised as q...

Chris Stephens | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary has continuously said that this Bill complies with international law. How does...

James Cleverly | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

Because what the statement on the front of the Bill says is clear—the words are unambiguous —but ...

Kevin Foster | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

As I know all too well, it is easy to throw rocks and criticise from the sidelines on immigration...

James Cleverly | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

As my hon. Friend will understand, I do not want to go into too much detail about all the operati...

Debbie Abrahams | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

Four days before International Human Rights Day, it is shameful that we are seeking to disapply p...

James Cleverly | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

As the hon. Lady will know, the advice of the Attorney General—who is not in her place any more—i...

Paul Bristow | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

Will the legislation mean that it is the British Government, elected by the British people, who d...

James Cleverly | 742 c446 (Link to this contribution)

The point is that it is the job of this Government to make decisions about immigration policy. I ...

Ashley Dalton | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Office safeguarding Minister, the hon. Member for Newbury (Laura Farris), has confirmed ...

James Cleverly | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

That has been confirmed. I regularly speak to Ministers in the Department but, ultimately, these ...

Mark Francois | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

If the Immigration Minister, who is a good man, has resigned over this Bill, that is deeply worry...

James Cleverly | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

The point is that all legal and judicial processes have an appeal process. By extension of my rig...

Nigel Evans | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

Order. I remind the Home Secretary to face forward, so that his voice is picked up more easily an...

Jim Shannon | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary and the Government will be aware that there has been some surprise at the reci...

James Cleverly | 742 c447 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Gentleman asks a very important question. This part of the treaty reflects the previous ...

Richard Drax | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

Does my right hon. Friend agree that all these human rights laws were simply not designed for the...

James Cleverly | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

These frameworks, of which we were a founding nation, were designed to deal with some of the issu...

Rachael Maskell | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

If Rwanda is a safe jurisdiction, as the Home Secretary is trying to legislate to say that it is,...

James Cleverly | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

The Supreme Court judgment to which we are responding highlighted two particular areas, and the t...

Bill Wiggin | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

Like the Home Secretary, my constituents want to welcome genuine asylum seekers such as the Ukrai...

James Cleverly | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

The Bill will go through the House, and although we are seeking to do this at pace, it will go th...

Clive Betts | 742 c448 (Link to this contribution)

Does the Home Secretary agree that our constituents would expect that, before we vote on any meas...

James Cleverly | 742 c449 (Link to this contribution)

The Government have committed to releasing the figures on an annual basis—[Interruption.] The poi...

Christopher Chope | 742 c449 (Link to this contribution)

Will my right hon. Friend pay tribute to the Immigration Minister, who has apparently just resign...

James Cleverly | 742 c449 (Link to this contribution)

I have said from this Dispatch Box and in a number of other locations how much I value the work o...

Joanna Cherry | 742 c449 (Link to this contribution)

From the point of view of those of us who believe in the rule of law, the separation of powers an...

James Cleverly | 742 c449 (Link to this contribution)

What I am absolutely proud of is the fact that we are seeking to break the business model of the ...

Robert Goodwill | 742 c450 (Link to this contribution)

I have been listening carefully to the questions from Opposition Members, and there have been a g...

James Cleverly | 742 c450 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend has made a fundamental point. Every story I read of people who have drowned ...

Lilian Greenwood | 742 c450 (Link to this contribution)

The deputy chair of the Conservative Party has said that the Government should just ignore the la...

James Cleverly | 742 c450 (Link to this contribution)

We absolutely abide by international law.

Robin Millar | 742 c450 (Link to this contribution)

Immigration, by any admission, is a complex, long-standing and developing challenge. I have liste...

James Cleverly | 742 c450 (Link to this contribution)

The timing of the passage of any Bill is in the hands of the two Chambers of this Parliament. We ...

Stephen Farry | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

I am opposed to the entirety of the Bill on policy grounds, but, as a Northern Ireland MP, I have...

James Cleverly | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

We are absolutely committed to maintaining peace in Northern Ireland. It is something that many p...

Mike Kane | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Biruta has said tonight:

“Without lawful behaviour by the ...

Peter Grant | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary wants us to take great comfort from the fact that the treaty with Rwanda will ...

James Cleverly | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

We will absolutely remain in compliance with international law.

Alex Cunningham | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary has used some choice language in this place, and in recent times he associated...

James Cleverly | 742 c451 (Link to this contribution)

I am not quite sure what the point of that question was, Mr Deputy Speaker. If the hon. Gentleman...

Richard Foord | 742 cc451-2 (Link to this contribution)

In her personal statement this afternoon, the former Home Secretary, the right hon. and learned M...

James Cleverly | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

Again, I am not at all sure how that question has anything to do with the proposals that we have ...

Neil Coyle | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

It is clear to the country that the Government are riven with division and chaos on this issue. S...

Nigel Evans | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

Order. Did the hon. Member just swear?

Alison Thewliss | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

No, he quoted the Home Secretary!

Neil Coyle | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

Okay. In an earlier answer, the Home Secretary said that the Immigration Minister would be attend...

James Cleverly | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

It will be the Immigration Minister.

Nigel Evans | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

Thank you very much for your statement, Home Secretary, and for answering questions for well over...

Alison Thewliss | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Accuracy is incredibly important in this House, and I wou...

James Cleverly | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. A number of countries are exploring third-coun...

Alison Thewliss | 742 c452 (Link to this contribution)

“Exploring” is not “copying”.

James Cleverly | 742 c453 (Link to this contribution)

A number of countries are exploring third-country asylum processing. The example that springs mos...

Alison Thewliss | 742 c453 (Link to this contribution)

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. On a point of accuracy, those who are being mo...

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