Uncle of Tory minister accuses Government of appearing like ‘despots’ over Rwanda
The uncle of a Home Office minister has accused the Government of appearing like “despots” as he voiced his disbelief over the Rwanda plan.
Lord Tugendhat, whose nephew is Tom Tugendhat, was among the many Lords who savaged Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill. The former Tory MP mentioned: “I’ve been a member of the Conservative Party for some 66 years and I find it quite extraordinary that the party of Margaret Thatcher should be introducing a bill of this kind.”
The Conservative grandee went on: “What we’re being asked to do really represents the sort behaviour, My Lords, that the world associates with despots and autocracies, not with an established democracy, not with the mother of Parliaments. It is a Bill we should not even be asked to confront, let alone pass.”
Ministers are desperately making an attempt to get Parliament to declare Rwanda a protected nation to ship asylum seekers to, regardless of the Supreme Court ruling in November that it isn’t. Senior church leaders had been additionally amongst these demanding sweeping modifications to the Bill that might successfully derail it.
The Bishop of Southwark instructed the House of Lords: “ Legislating Rwanda as a safe country does not necessarily make it so for the potentially vulnerable people who might be sent there.” He backed requires the mission to be delayed till the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – who has criticised the scheme – agrees it’s protected.
Calling for courts to be given extra energy to intervene – a key factor the Government is making an attempt to strip away – the Bishop mentioned: “Courts and tribunals must be able to make a judgment about the safety of Rwanda based on the consideration of the facts. We are not primarily discussing the suitability of Rwanda. We are discussing its safety for people who by definition have highly complex lives and circumstances.”
The House of Lords heard calls for for a two-year restrict of the regulation declaring Rwanda protected. Former Tory minister Viscount Hailsham mentioned the Government was pushing by way of an “untrue pronouncement” to reverse the Supreme Court’s findings.
And former prime decide Lord Kerr mentioned the Bill should not come into power till Rwanda “can be seen to be safe”. And Tory Lord Garnier mentioned: “A Parliament can pass a law saying that all dogs are cats, but it doesn’t make all dogs cats. Parliament can pass a law saying that Rwanda is a safe country, but It doesn’t make it a safe country.”
