There’s no point uniting around a policy that doesn’t work… we must keep our promise to the public to stop the boats
THE Prime Minister was right when he told us and our fellow Conservative MPs this week that we must “unite or die”.
We need to come together and fight the real enemy — Labour.
But the vital thing is we come together in the right place: where the public is.
There’s no point uniting around a policy that doesn’t work. That way we’ll just unite AND die.
The fundamental question around the small boats crisis is this: who is in charge of our country?
Is it Parliament, the representatives of the people — or is it lawyers and judges interpreting what they imagine to be “customary international law”?
International law is an essential part of the world order. It helps keep peace between nations.
But it is not sovereign WITHIN nations. In the UK, sovereignty rests with Parliament.
Parliament passed a law saying illegal immigrants must be removed — either back to their own country or to Rwanda.
But last month the Supreme Court stopped this law from working because, it said, it was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and a number of other international protocols.
That is why the new “Safety of Rwanda Bill” the Government has introduced is so welcome — because it specifies clearly that Parliament is sovereign.
It also goes a lot further than previous legislation in closing loopholes that human rights lawyers have used to block the deportation of illegal immigrants.
But there are big question marks over the bill, made clear by Robert Jenrick, the former Immigration Minister.
Will the bill stop each migrant lodging a legal case claiming that they would personally be at risk from deportation?
Will it allow the authorities to detain all arrivals immediately rather than letting them disappear into the UK in the hope we can find them once we’re ready to deport them?
Will it ensure that ministers will ignore foreign judges issuing a ruling to stop deportation flights — as happened in 2022?
And, fundamentally, will it work?
That means ensuring sufficient numbers of migrants are deported within days of their arrival so that word gets back to the camps in France that taking to the sea in a rubber dinghy simply isn’t worth it.
The key line in the EU Withdrawal Act that delivered Brexit in 2020 was the line — insisted on by our colleague Sir Bill Cash MP — that “the Parliament of the United Kingdom is sovereign”.
The Conservative Party, if it truly wants to serve the British people and make a credible appeal to the voters at the next election, has to unite around this principle.
We must keep our promise to the British public to stop — not just reduce — the boats.
The alternative is the unity of the tomb.
Tribes in face off
RISHI Sunak faces a crunch 48 hours as warring Tory MPs prepare to deliver their verdict on his emergency Rwanda Bill.
The PM is battling to get his flagship plan through Parliament after Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick quit.
Tory tribes have been tearing chunks out of each other over the blueprint to crack down on illegal immigration.
The PM vowed his bill will “finally stop the boats”.
It bars illegal migrants from using some human rights laws to stay in Britain.
He warned going further would mean ignoring international law completely and lead to Rwanda pulling out.
Tory right-wingers want Tuesday’s Bill hardened so migrants cannot lodge individual appeals.
But One Nation group “wets” want it watered down.