Robert Jenrick, the British Minister of Immigration, resigned on Wednesday, citing differences of opinion with the government’s emergency legislative draft that would have deported asylum applicants to Rwanda.
Published the same day as Jenrick’s resignation announcement, the planned Safety of Rwanda Bill, according to Jenrick, “did not go far enough” in enabling the government to disregard international human rights rules.
In a resignation letter that was shared on X, Jenrick declared, “A bill of the kind you are proposing is a triumph of hope over experience” (previously Twitter).
In reference to illegal migrant crossings across the English Channel, he also asserted that the government’s emergency legislation was “the last opportunity” for the UK to “stop the boats altogether.”
The proposed legislation seeks to overturn a court ruling that halted the government’s intentions to transfer thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda, an East African nation. It was unveiled the day after Britain and Rwanda signed a new treaty.
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The UK-Rwanda asylum policy was found to have violated international human rights law last month by the Supreme Court of London, which raised issues that the Home Office said the legislation addressed. The court argued that, whether or not their bids for asylum were valid, individuals deported to Rwanda would be at “real risk” of being sent back to their native country.
It is “clear that Rwanda is a safe country for asylum seekers, and that people who have come to the UK illegally can be removed there swiftly,” according to the new draft legislation. The Home Office states that “this will build on the legally binding treaty signed by the UK and Rwanda.”
The measure aims to compel judges to disregard parts of British or international law, as well as the Human Rights Act (HRA), that could make Rwanda an unsafe place to deport undocumented immigrants. It does not extend authority to annul the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) altogether, but it does let ministers to flout emergency directives from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to temporarily suspend a trip to Rwanda while specific cases are being heard. A number of Tory MPs, like as former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, had demanded that the measure repeal the HRA in its entirety.
In his resignation letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Jenrick—who has served as immigration minister since October of last year—stated that more needed to be done in the law to restrict the capacity of UK and foreign courts to review the policy.
He declared, “The government has an obligation to prioritise our vital national interests over hotly debated interpretations of international law.”
Jenrick continued, “I do not think the current proposed legislation gives us the best chance of success, so I am unable to take it through the Commons.”
Sunak’s signature immigration policy, the Rwanda scheme, is a part of a larger plan to allay public fears about the number of asylum seekers coming to the United Kingdom in advance of next year’s election. After 13 years in office, Sunak’s Conservative Party is currently 20% behind in public polls.
On Tuesday, the British government and Rwanda signed a new treaty that superseded their previous non-binding memorandum of understanding. The deal forbids Rwanda from sending asylum seekers to a third country where their freedom or life might be in danger.
As part of the strategy, Rwanda has received at least £140 million ($175 million) from the British government.
