Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill
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742 Session
2023-24Legislative stage
Second readingChamber / Committee
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Tuesday, 12 July 2022
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Wednesday, 26 October 2022
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Wednesday, 15 November 2023
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Thursday, 7 December 2023
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Proceeding contributions
The reasoned amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition has been selected.
12.33...
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
Before I speak to the Bill, let me ...
Show all contributions (248)
I will not give way yet, as I have just started.
Last year, a third of all those arriving i...
I will give way in a moment. Of course, this Government respect court judgments, even when we dis...
The Home Secretary points to deterrence. He has often used the Australian model of offshoring det...
The hon. Lady raises the case of Australia. It had 55,000 illegal migrations by boats and that ha...
I am sure that my right hon. Friend will agree that the British are world champions at queueing. ...
I am confident, and indeed the conversations I have had with the Government’s legal advisers rein...
I am going to make further progress. Judges of course play an important role, but they are not po...
I will make further progress. Thanks to the efforts on the part of the UK Government and the Gove...
My right hon. Friend was an excellent Foreign Secretary, so he will know the extraordinary tensio...
In my former role, I had extensive conversations with the Governments of both the Democratic Repu...
I intend to make further progress—this is Second Reading and there will be plenty of opportunitie...
Just yesterday, I received correspondence stating:
“EU Council Directive 2005/85/EC is caug...
The point that the hon. Gentleman makes about differential treatment in different parts of the Un...
I will make further progress. As I say, the principle of relocating people to a safe country to h...
Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is clear in international law and in relation to the ques...
My hon. Friend makes an important point. He is right that when the wording of a Bill is clear and...
I am going to make some progress.
A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment of...
I am extremely grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. As he says, international law and...
I can reassure my right hon. and learned Friend that that is absolutely not the intention of the ...
If the right hon. Gentleman is right and the treaty with Rwanda meets the concerns of the Supreme...
We are putting forward legislation that will be clear and unambiguous, so as to support the treat...
With the indulgence of the House, I intend to make some progress. I want to make sure that others...
I thank the Home Secretary for giving way. Since we last spoke in this House, it has been confirm...
The right hon. Lady is asking me to confirm figures that we have put in the public domain. Unsurp...
The right hon. Lady has the chance to make a speech in just a few moments.
The system of sp...
On that point on foreign courts, clause 5(2) says:
“It is for a Minister of the Crown…to de...
My right hon. Friend, who is an expert proceduralist in this House, will know that advice from th...
Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, as a matter of law, an interim measure under rule 35 is d...
My hon. Friend is absolutely right.
Will the Home Secretary give way?
I will give way one more time, and then I will make more progress.
The Home Secretary says he will not reveal to the House the Attorney General’s advice, and that i...
The hon. Lady will know that we have committed to a reporting schedule that is completely consist...
Will my right hon. Friend give way?
I have to make progress.
The Bill gives effect to the judgment of Parliament that Rwanda is...
I am going to make progress. I have been generous, but I want others to have the chance to speak....
My right hon. Friend makes the point about foreign courts, but what about domestic courts? Is the...
My right hon. and learned Friend knows I have a huge amount of respect for him, not just as a fri...
I will conclude, as I have been on my feet for a while.
This is how we will save lives at s...
I am nearly done; let me conclude.
This is how we will overcome the intolerable pressure on...
I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “That” to the end of the Question and add:
“t...
The Prime Minister has come up with a plan. He is committed to it. We have had assurances from th...
The hon. Gentleman hopes that his Prime Minister has a plan, but no Back Bencher on either side o...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I will give way to the hon. Member if he can say whether he agrees with the previous immigration ...
I am grateful to the shadow Home Secretary for asking me questions; she overestimates my ability....
The trouble is that they are not—they are just not. The scale of the Government’s operations to g...
Order. Just shouting at the shadow Home Secretary is not a good look. You should be listening to ...
Will the right hon. Lady give way on the last point?
I am extremely grateful. Is this not just a fig leaf for a completely incompetent Home Office? I ...
The hon. Member is totally right. I have now heard of a series of failed asylum cases in which pe...
I have listened with interest for almost 15 minutes to hear what the shadow Home Secretary’s solu...
Well, £400 million for a failing plan is a hell of a lot of money. What we need to do is clear th...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I will give way to my former colleague on the Home Affairs Committee.
I am grateful to the right hon. Lady, and we did indeed work together on the Home Affairs Committ...
I totally agree with the hon. Member. That is why I hope there will be cross-party support for a ...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I will make some progress first.
On the treaty and the Bill before us, the treaty says that...
The shadow Home Secretary will understand the passion and anger that many of our constituents fee...
I think the right hon. Member is just highlighting the failure of those on his Front Bench. All o...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I will make some progress, and then I will give way to the right hon. Member.
The problem i...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I will give way. I did promise to give way to the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and E...
Is there a fundamental difference between the Government deeming Rwanda safe and the Labour Gover...
The right hon. and learned Gentleman knows that that is not the case, because what the Government...
I will give way to the right hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, as I said I ...
There are two points to correct in the right hon. Lady’s narrative about what Labour would do tha...
Before I call the right hon. Lady, I stress that when people make interventions, not only should ...
The problem for the right hon. Member is that he has a scheme that is likely now to cost £400 mil...
The right hon. Lady is making a powerful case that seeking to legislate by assertion that Rwanda ...
We have constitutional roles for Parliament and the courts. It is right for Parliament to respond...
I will give way, because I know that the right hon. Member likes to think of himself as the leade...
The right hon. Lady is right; I am the very personification of common sense, as she has just ackn...
I say to the right hon. Gentleman that we are discussing this legislation not because of a Europe...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
I will, and then I will have to conclude my remarks.
I will quote article 21 of the ECHR, which clearly the right hon. Lady likes to support in so man...
The hon. Member’s problem is with those on his Front Bench. His problem is with his own Home Secr...
Order. It is obvious that a large number of right hon. and hon. Members wish to speak in the deba...
The decision to leave office is always a difficult one. The decision to disagree with the Prime M...
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
I will give way to the hon. Lady in a moment.
We have to secure our borders, which means th...
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
I will not give way at the moment.
This is proven to be correct every time, so why would we...
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
I will give way in a moment.
First, such a provision would bring legal certainty; secondly,...
The right hon. Gentleman casts aspersions on Labour’s approach to this issue. He is in the presen...
There has been a tenfold increase in the pace of asylum decision making, so we have absolutely tr...
With all due respect, I will not give way, because I only have a few minutes left.
We need ...
I call the SNP spokesperson.
1.51 pm
I wish to speak to the reasoned amendment that stands in my name and that of my hon. Friends.
...The hon. Member is making an excellent speech and bringing real humanity to the debate. Is she aw...
The right hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. Through the Bill, this country is turning its ...
If the right hon. Member can explain how Rwanda is safe, I will certainly give way.
The key thing about this whole debate is the tension that the hon. Lady has described. Is she fam...
I acknowledge that different lawyers will have different opinions. In its briefing, the Law Socie...
The right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes) cites various judges, b...
My hon. and learned Friend is absolutely correct, and has knowledge of many of these issues. It i...
Order. Just to clarify, since the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) referred to i...
The recent Rwanda case is the most recent case on matters relating to parliamentary intentions, t...
Before the hon. and learned Lady seeks to intervene, I want to get this quite clear. The Miller c...
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
I will give way. The hon. and learned Lady can say what she likes.
It is refreshing to know that my article 10 rights have not been withdrawn yet. The point is this...
Absolutely. I am glad that the hon. and learned Lady mentioned the fact that an unambiguous state...
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
No. I am going to read out—
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
No, I will not give way.
I am going to quote directly from Lord Hoffman himself in relation...
I call the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee.
2.20 pm
May I start by expressing my condolences following the news of the death of an asylum seeker on t...
In defending the Bill, which I will attempt, one has to reckon with those who think that it goes ...
Yes, it is. It was changed two or three years later, but in the Nasseri case before the Appellate...
Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give way?
I cannot give way; I do not have time.
Let me move to the third and most important question...
Will my right hon. and learned Friend give way?
No, I cannot give way; I simply do not have time.
Constitutional principles compete in crea...
Order. I am sorry to have to interrupt the right hon. and learned Gentleman, but he is fully awar...
The Government’s failure to arrive at a workable solution to the problem of asylum seekers relate...
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it would make eminent sense to ensure that people who cl...
I will address that point later in my speech, if I have enough time.
In England, the NHS wa...
After a good deal of hesitation, I shall support the Bill tonight. My hesitation is real because,...
It is a delight to follow the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill), who mad...
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Rhondda (Sir Chris Bryant), and I was pleased to h...
My right hon. and learned Friend is more than aware of the Privacy International case. He knows, ...
Contrary to mythology within the Conservative party, my hon. Friend and I agree on many of these ...
I say sincerely that it is a genuine pleasure to follow the right hon. and learned Member for Sou...
Having been the Home Secretary who negotiated the original migration and economic development par...
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
As the hon. Gentleman well knows, there is no time for me to give way.
Effectively, such re...
Speaking as a lawyer—[Interruption.] Yes, there are still one or two of us left. I must say that ...
We all know that our constituents want action on illegal migration. If we conduct surveys and rea...
I am glad that the debate has provided an opportunity for former immigration Ministers to come to...
Order. I call David Jones. [Interruption.] David Jones?
3.34 pm
Oh, thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am sorry; I could not hear you with all the excitement.
Twelve hundred.
I stand corrected by someone who knows about it. In that case, it is not difficult to envisage a ...
This Bill might be called the safety of Rwanda Bill, but it is really the safety of the future of...
Let me start by saying how much I support the objectives of the Bill. I pay tribute to the Govern...
This year is the 75th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights. What an irony, an...
I will start by saying simply that I am not a massive fan of this policy. I suspect that will not...
I have been in this House on many occasions when we have discussed migration and it saddens me th...
The small boats are of particular concern to me, as the Member representing Dover and Deal, becau...
This is a new low even for this Tory Government. This Bill is spawned by overpromising on immigra...
The hon. Gentleman is waxing eloquent on Rwanda’s excellent negotiation with the Government. Does...
I will not go down that rabbit hole, if the hon. Member will forgive me. I think Rwanda has done ...
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s reflections on the Conservative party, but what are his re...
I hear it all the time from the Conservatives that Labour does not have a policy. It would be nic...
The Rwanda policy is just one tool in a suite of tools designed to stop the boats and, more impor...
First, let me say that the Bill’s objective is supported by our party, as it should be by all rea...
Does the right hon. Gentleman remember that in 2016, on the BBC’s “Spotlight” programme, a consti...
First of all, that is inaccurate—I did not say that. Secondly, this is all about the United Kingd...
As usual, the right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) talks a lot of good sense.
I...
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
I will give way very quickly, yes.
What does the hon. Gentleman think of the reciprocal arrangement for the Rwandan Government to se...
Of course none of us like any of that, but we have to get the Bill past the courts. We have to ge...
There was a time not long ago when the unique selling point of the Conservative party was showing...
Our country finds itself in a difficult situation. The Government rightly made a commitment to th...
Public services are on the verge of collapse, the gap between rich and poor has widened, and we a...
I am sure that when Members rush to read Hansard tomorrow, they will read the word “crass”.
indicated assent.
Thank you, and I am sure that Hansard will have taken note of that.
4.51 pm
I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
T...
Let us not beat abound the bush: this Bill is in retaliation and is a crass payback for the Supre...
This Bill tackles an issue that is vital to many of our constituents. We all know how important l...
The hon. Member says that there are no credible options, but we have heard multiple speakers, org...
I do not understand the line that we are not willing to take people in their hour of need. When w...
I attended my six-year-old son’s nativity play this morning—he was an angel. I was thinking of th...
The last time I went to the Council of Europe, I got off the train at the Gare du Nord in Paris, ...
I am not sure what relevance that has. The hon. Lady tells us what is happening in Paris, but our...
I have said it before and I will say it again: Doncaster is full. [Interruption.] I often get cha...
I feel as if I have been sucked back in time to listen to Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech...
Is it not a fundamental problem with the Bill that so many people see it as punishing the exploit...
Indeed. It has been suggested by a number of speakers this afternoon that no alternatives to the ...
Will the hon. and learned Lady give way?
I will in a moment.
I want to say something about how this Bill impinges on Scotland. Conse...
I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, having been a soli...
Does my hon. Friend agree that France is supposed to be a safe country and that people have an op...
I agree with my hon. Friend. We have heard some blanket statements about immigration, but one of ...
I am grateful to a priest in my constituency for recently bringing to my attention the film “A Ma...
Does my hon. Friend agree that those who support refugees in our country deserve our respect and ...
I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Over decades, immigrants have contributed so much to the ...
I will start by looking at the foundation and principles of the Bill. It is worth remembering tha...
There have been some absurd and ridiculous Bills presented to this Parliament in the course of th...
I advise colleagues that the winding-up speeches will begin at 6.30 pm.
5.54 pm
It is somewhat comical to get a lecture on unity and financial probity from the Scottish National...
We have heard the sounds of optimism over truth coming from the Conservatives. The idea that the ...
I will support the Bill this evening, because it is a fundamental right that a country must be ab...
Last week, my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) compared the Home Secr...
The hon. Gentleman must recognise that Rwanda has successfully resettled more than 130,000 people...
I must ask the hon. Gentleman to keep within the five minutes, although he has taken an intervent...
I will, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think I just heard the former Home Secretary encouraging more peo...
I would say it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady), who ser...
Rwanda is not a safe country. This country is using the Bill as a distraction from the Government...
There are sometimes advantages to being the last speaker. Because the previous speech was a littl...
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It has been a long day and a long debate. Perhaps the Government...
I call the shadow Minister.
6.29 pm
I rise to join the shadow Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefra...
As my hon. Friend will know, I worked for his father and my daughter worked for his mother. Does ...
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words. He is right to suggest that the vast majority of peopl...
Before I call the Minister, can I say once again how important it is for those who have contribut...
I first want to join the hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock), my right hon. Friend the Hom...
Will the Minister give way?
I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, specifically on the point about spurious claims.
Can the Minister tell the House how many people will be deported to Rwanda next year?
It will start off in the hundreds and scale up into the thousands. I enjoyed the hon. Gentleman’s...
Will the Minister give way?
How could I refuse?
I wish to be a little formal about this. Will my hon. and learned Friend seek a ruling from Mr Sp...
I say directly to my hon. Friend that I will continue to work with him on this. I will come back ...
I am grateful to the Minister for addressing those points as clearly as he did. He will acknowled...
May I give the hon. Gentleman this commitment: I will continue to work with him on the points tha...
I welcome the immigration Minister to his place. Is he aware that while he has been speaking the ...
The answer is: no, no and no. [Interruption.] I am here; I have been in the Chamber.
Turnin...
Will the Minister give way?
Forgive me, but I will not.
In the time I have left, I will refer to my hon. Friend the Mem...