{"id":122358,"date":"2023-12-14T16:59:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T16:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cottontailsonline.com\/?p=122358"},"modified":"2023-12-14T16:59:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T16:59:33","slug":"sunak-open-to-tougher-rwanda-deportation-laws-amid-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottontailsonline.com\/politics\/sunak-open-to-tougher-rwanda-deportation-laws-amid-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunak open to tougher Rwanda deportation laws amid backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rishi Sunak insisted he is open to toughening up his Rwanda deportation laws if rebels can come up with \u201crespectable\u201d changes.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister is facing a series of fresh battles with backbenchers on both wings of the party when the legislation returns to the Commons in the new year.<\/p>\n

Hardliners want reforms that will stop migrants using legal rights to appeal to avoid being put on a flight to Kigali.<\/p>\n

But centrists warn they will not back radical changes to a bill they already have concerns about.<\/p>\n

Mr Sunak said: \u201cI\u2019ve been very consistently clear, as have all ministers, if there are ways that the legislation can be improved, to be made even more effective – with a respectable legal argument and maintaining the participation of the Rwandans in the scheme – of course we would be open to that, who wouldn\u2019t be?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister won a crunch vote with a 44-strong majority in the Commons on his emergency draft law aimed at reviving the policy to deport some asylum seekers to the east African nation.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister previously insisted the legislation strikes the right balance between the demands of both wings of his party.<\/p>\n

He suggested there is only an \u201cinch\u201d between his rescue plan and more radical measures that would risk Rwanda pulling out of the scheme.<\/p>\n

But Mr Sunak has refused to say how soon flights to Kigali will take off if he gets the legislation through the Commons and Lords, where it is also expected to face heavy scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Right-wing Tory factions including the European Research Group (ERG) have threatened to vote down the Safety of Rwanda Bill unless it is hardened, including by denying asylum seekers individual appeals.<\/p>\n

But this could risk losing the backing of more centrist Tories, who are keen to protect the legislation against breaches of international law.<\/p>\n

Mr Sunak dismissed backbench objections as \u201cdebating society\u201d behaviour but in a bid to pre-empt rebellion said that Rwanda will not take deportees who have no legal recourse to Strasbourg.<\/p>\n

A number of Tory MPs have privately put forward suggestions to No 10 of how the bill could be tightened up.<\/p>\n

But Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has insisted the government will not cave to pressure from the right of the Tory Party by watering down the Bill\u2019s commitment to international obligations.<\/p>\n