Legal challenges to Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill are “inevitable”, the illegal migration minister has admitted, as human rights organisations called on the government not to put the scheme into force.
Michael Tomlinson said the government wanted to ensure flights get off the ground “as soon as possible” but that there would undoubtedly be challenges to the legislation, which passed around midnight last night after months of parliamentary ping pong.
“There will be challenges, but we will meet them, we will overcome them,” he told Kay Burley on Breakfast.
His words come as five migrants died during an attempt to cross the Channel on Tuesday morning.
Mr Sunak believes the Rwanda bill – which seeks to deport asylum seekers arriving in the UK via small boats to the African nation – will act as a deterrent for those who are considering making the dangerous Channel crossing.
Mr Tomlinson declined to give extensive details on the Rwanda flights, including which commercial airline and airport will be used, saying: “There are those who are determined to stop this, and if I go into detail such as that with you, then that will help those who are wanting to stop this.”
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Following the bill’s passage, the United Nations and the Council of Europe urged ministers to reconsider the scheme.
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees said the bill, which is likely to receive Royal Assent and pass into law this week, marked a “further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention”.
“Protecting refugees requires all countries – not just those neighbouring crisis zones – to uphold their obligations,” he said.
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“This arrangement seeks to shift responsibility for refugee protection, undermining international cooperation and setting a worrying global precedent.”
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, criticised the bill for “reducing the UK’s courts’ ability to scrutinise removal decisions, restricting access to legal remedies in the UK and limiting the scope of domestic and international human rights protections for a specific group of people”.
The Council of Europe joined the UN in urging the government not to enact the scheme, with human rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty arguing the UK “should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the bill’s effective infringement of judicial independence”.
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The Rwanda bill will become law this week after the House of Lords, which had repeatedly expressed its displeasure with the bill, decided it would no longer oppose it following hours of wrangling last night in a bid to secure changes.
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Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said the country was “pleased” the legislation has passed.
She said the bill’s passage “doesn’t alter what we have always known to be true” – which is that Rwanda has “worked hard over the last 30 years to make Rwanda a safe and secure country for Rwandans and non-Rwandans alike”.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded the scheme an “expensive gimmick” that will affect “less than 1% of asylum seekers” arriving in Britain.
