[Politics]Robert Jenrick resigns as immigration minister over Rwanda legislation

[Ronaldskk.]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67640833

 

Robert Jenrick has resigned as immigration minister, saying the government's emergency Rwanda legislation "does not go far enough".

He said "stronger protections" were needed to end "the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme".

The government said the bill, unveiled earlier, made clear in UK law Rwanda was a safe country for asylum seekers.

But it stops short of what some on the Tory right were demanding.

In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Jenrick said: "In our discussions on the proposed emergency legislation you have moved towards my position, for which I am grateful.

"Nevertheless, I am unable to take the currently proposed legislation through the Commons as I do not believe it provides us with the best possible chance of success."

He added that the bill was "a triumph of hope over experience".

The plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda aim to deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

But the scheme has been repeatedly delayed by legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent to Rwanda from the UK so far.

Mr Jenrick said the emergency legislation was the "last opportunity" to prove the government would do "whatever it takes" to stop small boat crossings.

"But in its current drafting it does not go far enough," he said.

He added: "I refuse to be yet another politician who makes promises on immigration to the British public but does not keep them."

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Reports of Mr Jenrick's resignation started swirling after the government published the draft bill.

He had previously suggested the government could quit the European Convention on Human Rights (EHCR).

Instead, the bill allows ministers to disregard parts of UK human rights law.

The legislation aims to address the concerns of the Supreme Court, which last month ruled plans to send some asylum seekers to the east African country were unlawful.

The bill, which must be voted on by Parliament, orders the courts to ignore key sections of the Human Rights Act in an attempt to sidestep the Supreme Court's existing judgment.

It also orders the courts to ignore other British laws or international rules - such as the international Refugee Convention - that stand in the way of deportations to Rwanda.

However, it does not go as far as some Tory MPs wanted.