Labour parliamentary candidate for Ipswich speaks out against the Prime Minister's Rwanda bill
He says it's 'farcical'
Last updated 12th Dec 2023
The Labour parliamentary candidate for Ipswich says the government is 'dealing in fantasy' with its plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
It's as the Prime Minister prepares for a crunch vote on the policy in the Commons later today.
Jack Abbot told us what he'd like to see instead of the bill: "Reform resettlement routes to stop people being exploited by gangs and tackle humanitarian crises at source, helping refugees in their region.
"Substance rather than soundbites should be the basis for any government."
Mass rebellion
Ahead of the vote later this afternoon, Rishi Sunak will try to avert a mass rebellion by right-wing Tory MPs against his Rwanda plan, as he struggles to reconcile the competing demands of different Conservative factions.
Would-be rebels have warned the Prime Minister that "major surgery" is still required to fix the flagship asylum legislation, with as many as 40 MPs prepared to either abstain or vote against the proposed legislation in its first Commons vote on Tuesday.
Jack Abbott says it's not going well for the government: "The whole situation is farcicle.
"Already, the government has given Rwanda more than £290 million and they're refusing to come clean on how much this is costing, or how it will work.
"They've broken the asylum system and have no idea how to fix it."
"Anyone who agrees must support the Rwanda Bill"
Home Secretary James Cleverly used an article in the Telegraph to defend the plan overnight, writing: "After Brexit, the United Kingdom is a fully sovereign country once again - and of course we must control our borders. Anyone who agrees must support the Rwanda Bill."
It came after he also addressed Tory MPs in an another briefing on Monday afternoon.
Not long before, Conservative backbench European Research Group chairman Mark Francois had called on the Prime Minister to "pull" the legislation after lawyers convened by the caucus deemed it an "incomplete" solution to problems posed by small boat asylum claims.
The Bill allows ministers to disapply the Human Rights Act but does not go as far as overriding the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Government's current assessment is that only one in 200 cases will successfully avoid being sent to Rwanda once the Bill becomes law.