{"id":5340,"date":"2024-03-21T00:38:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T00:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/21\/house-of-lords-stalls-u-k-bill-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda\/"},"modified":"2024-03-21T00:38:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T00:38:36","slug":"house-of-lords-stalls-u-k-bill-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/21\/house-of-lords-stalls-u-k-bill-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Lords Stalls U.K. Bill to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/20\/multimedia\/20uk-rwanda-1-qwck\/20uk-rwanda-1-qwck-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"House of Lords Stalls U.K. Bill to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda\" title=\"House of Lords Stalls U.K. Bill to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Britain\u2019s House of Lords dealt a sharp setback to the government on Wednesday, voting to amend the Conservative Party\u2019s flagship immigration legislation and potentially delay a contentious plan to put asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was an unusual display of defiance by the Lords, many of whom object to the policy on legal and constitutional grounds. While the Conservative government, with a comfortable majority in the House of Commons, can ultimately get the bill passed, the back-and-forth with the House of Lords, the unelected upper house of Parliament, could thwart the government\u2019s hopes for a quick start to a plan it views as critical to its fortunes in an election year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prime Minister Rishi Sunak argues that the flights to Rwanda, a small country in East Africa, would be a vital deterrent that could stem the flow of tens of thousands of people who make dangerous crossings from France to Britain each year on small, often unseaworthy boats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The government does not expect any such flights until May, and, after Wednesday\u2019s actions by the House of Lords, that timeline could now slip to June. The prime minister\u2019s office had no immediate comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those chosen for the first flight are expected to file legal appeals that could stymie the plan further.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Under the legislation, those deported from Britain would have their asylum claims assessed in Rwanda. But even if the claims were successful, the deportees would stay there and not be allowed to settle in Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/14\/world\/europe\/uk-rwanda-asylum-seekers.html\" title=\"\">The policy was launched<\/a> by a former prime minister, Boris Johnson, almost two years ago. But despite paying hundreds of millions of pounds to Rwanda as part of its agreement with that nation, the British government so far has not been able to send a single asylum seeker there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The government has been under heavy pressure over the arrival of small boats on the British coast, which have become a symbol of its failure to contain immigration. Taking control of Britain\u2019s frontiers was a central promise of the 2016 Brexit campaign, championed by Mr. Johnson and supported by Mr. Sunak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In June 2022, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/14\/world\/europe\/britain-asylum-seekers-rwanda.html\" title=\"\">last-minute legal action grounded<\/a> the first scheduled flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda, and since then, the policy has been on hold. Last year Britain\u2019s Supreme Court <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/15\/world\/europe\/uk-rwanda-deportation-supreme-court.html\" title=\"\">ruled against the plan<\/a>, declaring that Rwanda was not a safe destination for refugees and there was a risk that some sent there would be returned to their countries of origin, where they could be at risk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bill debated on Wednesday overrules that judgment, declaring Rwanda a safe country and instructing the courts to consider it as such. That approach was heavily criticized in the House of Lords, whose members include many former lawmakers, lawyers, judges, civil servants and diplomats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a debate last month, Kenneth Clarke, a Conservative former chancellor of the Exchequer, said the legislation set \u201can extremely dangerous precedent\u201d by contradicting the Supreme Court on a point of law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In its deliberations, the House of Lords advanced a series of amendments, but those were overturned this week by the elected, and far more powerful, House of Commons. On Wednesday, the Lords voted to reinstate seven amendments, including one requiring that Rwanda supply evidence that it is a safe destination for refugees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The upper chamber can do little more than postpone a bill, and, lacking democratic legitimacy, it invariably bows to the will of the House of Commons eventually. But that did not stop some members from striking a defiant tone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI know that some noble Lords feel that the Commons must have the last word,\u201d said David Hope, a retired Scottish judge who is a nonpartisan member of the House of Lords. \u201cBut on this occasion I really invite those Lordships who are minded to take that view to think very carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vernon Coaker, a member speaking for the opposition Labour Party, which is against the plan, criticized the government for refusing to give any weight to the previous amendments submitted by the House of Lords. Any delays to the deportation policy were the government\u2019s fault, he said, because it controls the parliamentary timetable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he conceded that the legislation would ultimately pass. \u201cWe have said all along, and I repeat here, that it is not our intention to block the bill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition to the legislation, known as the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, the British government negotiated a new treaty with the Rwandan government to try to address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Under the latest version of the plan, even those whose asylum claims were rejected while they were in Rwanda would be allowed to stay there. That was designed to allay fears that they could be sent back to their countries of origin, where they might be at risk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even so, the bill has been fiercely criticized by human rights groups. \u201cThis could all come to an end now if the government abandons the cruel policy of refusing to decide asylum claims this country receives,\u201d said Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International U.K.\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Britain\u2019s House of Lords dealt a sharp setback to the government on Wednesday, voting to amend the Conservative Party\u2019s flagship immigration legislation and potentially delay a contentious plan to put asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda. It was an unusual display of defiance by the Lords, many of whom object to the policy on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/20\/multimedia\/20uk-rwanda-1-qwck\/20uk-rwanda-1-qwck-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[55,229,79,6177,60,4164,839,8862,503],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5342,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5340\/revisions\/5342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}