The British Immigration Minister resigned on Wednesday (December 6) saying he “strongly disagrees” with the policy of sending migrants to Rwanda which he believes still goes “far enough. ” Robert Jenrick, a hardliner fighting against the illegal arrival of migrants across the English Channel, announced his resolution following the publication of the bill that would allow their shipment to Rwanda.
“I cannot remain in my position by deeply disagreeing with the direction of the government’s immigration policy,” the Prime Minister’s best friend Rishi Sunak wrote on X. Sunak responded in a letter that his departure was “disappointing” and also appeared to be “based on a fundamentally false impression of the situation. “
This resounding resignation comes at a time when the party’s most right-wing conservatives are calling for freedom from international conventions to bring the project to fruition, at the risk of leading to a withdrawal from Kigali.
Earlier, former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned Rishi Sunak that the Conservatives risked “falling into electoral oblivion within a few months” in the general election if they enacted a new law “doomed to failure”.
The emergency bill introduced in Parliament on Thursday is expected to “unambiguously exclude the courts” from challenging Rwanda as a “safe country”, following last month’s setback by the British Supreme Court. The magistrates blocked the task for fear of the protection of migrants deported to the African country.
The new law states that certain sections of the UK Human Rights Act will not apply to deportations, stating that “ministers shall uphold the ruling regardless of whether or not they comply with the measures of the European Court of Human Rights. “however, it was passed to signal London’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, as demanded by Suella Braverman and her allies.
The stakes are “too important for us not to seek the strongest protections, necessary to put an end to the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralyzing the system and canceling the deterrent effect” of the measure, judged Robert Jenrick . “If we completely oust the courts, the whole system would collapse,” replied Rishi Sunak in his letter to the minister.
At the same time, Rwanda warned on Wednesday that it would withdraw from the bilateral treaty signed the day before with the United Kingdom if London did not respect international law. Rwanda’s foreign minister, Vincent Biruta, warned that “without lawful behavior from the UK, Rwanda would not be able to continue the partnership” on immigration. “There would be no point in adopting a law that would leave us without a place to send” these migrants, Rishi Sunak wanted to reassure, with the government hoping to see the first planes take off in April.
A first plane carrying migrants to Kigali in June 2022, but the flight was cancelled at the last minute following a court order from the European Court of Human Rights. More than 29,700 people arrived in the UK this year in small boats, compared to 45,700 in 2022.