Suffolk charity reacts to Rishi Sunak winning Rwanda policy Commons vote: "Disappointing"
It means the Government can press on with its plans
Last updated 18th Jan 2024
The Prime Minister has won a vote on his controversial Rwanda policy.
Parliament approved the Rwanda bill - designed to send some asylum seekers to the African country - by a majority of 44.
It's after a group of so-called 'rebel' Tory MPs met and agreed to back the plans despite publicly not supporting them.
The bill only needed 30 tory MPs to join the opposition in voting against the bill for it to be defeated.
Earlier, two Conservative deputy chairmen and a ministerial aide resigned.
The Tory chaos has left the Prime Minister's authority in "tatters", Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said.
Speaking in the Commons during the third reading of the Bill, Ms Cooper said: "This chaos leaves the Prime Minister's authority in tatters, he's in office but not in power. No one agrees with him on his policy. And the real weaknesses is that he doesn't even agree with it himself.
"A Prime Minister who is so weak he has lost control of the asylum system, lost control of our borders and lost any control of the Tory party."
James Cleverly said he has "respect" for Tory MPs who sought to strengthen the Rwanda Bill.
Speaking during the Bill's third reading, the Home Secretary told the Commons: "We are united in the agreement that stopping the boats... and getting (the) Rwanda partnership up and running is of the utmost importance.
"And having a debate about how to get the policy right is of course what this House is for, that is our collective job, and I respect my good friends and colleagues on my side for putting forward amendments in good faith in order to do what they believe will strengthen the Bill."
immigration Minister Michael Tomlinson told MPs: "The effect is that the duty under section 6.1 of the Human Rights Act is disapplied from any public authority, including any court or tribunal that is taking a decision that is based on the duty under Clause 2 of the Bill to treat the Republic of Rwanda as safe."
Lee Anderson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Jane Stevenson stepped down, with 60 Tory MPs supporting rebel amendments. Number 10 anticipated the bill's passage but was expecting to make some concessions.
The legislation aims to deter Channel crossings by sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The government is contemplating changes to the Civil Service Code to address the rebellion.
The Rwanda policy's debates reveal Conservative divisions and pose possible future challenges for the Prime Minister.
"Disappointed"
Here in Suffolk, Martin Simmonds, from Suffolk Refugee Support, a non-profit organisation in Ipswich, shared their thoughts on the bill passing with us.
Martin's long maintained that the bill is "cruel and punitive" and is very "disappointed".
He went on to say it is a relatively "small number of people who do attempt to come to his country to claim asylum" and that this plan does not, and will not, "deter people from attempting to reach the UK."
"They do not understand the reasons why people are forced to leave, their homes and the decisions they make around where they will seek safety and where they might want to try to rebuild their lives."
He views the plan as "political rather than humanitarian" and observes throughout the discussion the words "illegal migrants rather than asylum seeker or refugee."
"Figures show that 3/4 of the people claiming asylum in the UK have proven to have a genuine need for protection... but there are no legal routes for them to access that protection."
We asked Martin what they would like to see be done to help asylum seekers.
He told us they want work done to "improve the situation" including "de-escalate conflicts in different parts of the world and tackle the reasons people are forced to flee in the first place."
He also wants more to be done to manage migration flows and for work to be done to "provide safe and legal routes for people who do need our protection or working on a fair and efficient asylum system for people reaching the UK and claiming asylum... and fair and fast and fair assignment decisions."