Rishi Sunak’s controversial Rwanda plan is still in “serious doubt” despite managing to clear parliamentary hurdles to become law “within days”, the IPPR has said.
The House of Lords had been engaged in an extended tussle over the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill on Monday, sending it back to the Commons five times in a bid to secure changes.
The unelected chamber ended the deadlock after MPs rejected a requirement that Rwanda could not be treated as safe until the secretary of state, having consulted an independent monitoring body, made a statement to Parliament to that effect.
The Government said the Lords amendment was “almost identical” to the previous ones overturned by MPs.
In a video posted to social media, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the Bill “will become law within days”.
He said: “The Act will prevent people from abusing the law by using false human rights claims to block removals.
“And it makes clear that the UK Parliament is sovereign, giving Government the power to reject interim blocking measures imposed by European courts.
“I promised to do what was necessary to clear the path for the first flight.
“That’s what we have done.
“Now we’re working day in and day out to get flights off the ground.”
But according to Marley Morris, IPPR associate director for migration, trade and communities, the plan could still be in serious doubt.
“As Parliament finally passes the Safety of Rwanda bill, new figures have revealed the growing ‘perma-backlog’ of people trapped in limbo in the asylum system.
“There have now been more than 73,000 asylum claims since March 2023. Where these claims are from people who have arrived irregularly, they typically cannot be given permission to stay under the Illegal Migration Act. The Home Office has given no public explanation of how they will be dealt with.
“Many are set to be stuck in limbo as the government struggles to deliver the Rwanda plan at scale.
“With Rwanda expected to have limited capacity to process and accommodate arrivals and the UK government likely to face ongoing legal challenges, the Home Office’s ability to put the law into practice and deliver the Rwanda plan at scale remains in serious doubt.
“While the government may have put the Safety of Rwanda bill on to the statute book, the plan remains impractical, unethical and astronomically costly. Moreover, there is no evidence it will deliver on the Prime Minister’s promise of stopping the boats.
“The Home Office should instead focus on working with European partners to manage asylum claims, introducing new safe routes to divert people away from dangerous crossings, and fixing the flaws in our broken asylum system.”
