Rishi Sunak’s position strengthened by winning the immigration debate in the UK Parliament

London (Uttam Hindu News): Reaffirming the strong position of Britain’s Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, MPs in the House of Commons by 313 votes to 269 approved the second reading of the House of Commons Bill, which aims to bring illegal immigrants to Britain. The plan is to deport Rwandan refugees who, according to the British government’s assessment, are ineligible.

Sunak said: “The British people should decide who comes to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts. That’s what this bill says.”

Mark Francois, who represents a large number of right-wing Conservative MPs, told the press that his party would likely not support the bill at third reading, which is expected to be introduced in the new year.

For the time being, he refrained from opposing Sunak on this basis as he had indicated that he was willing to accept amendments that would tighten the bill.

The seven-hour debate came on the day an asylum-seeker was found dead on a boat off the southern English coast while waiting for his application to be processed.

The Guardian reported that “he is believed to have committed suicide”. The Times headlined ‘Migrant dies in “suicide” on Bibby Stockholm barge’.

Britain’s Home Secretary James Cleverley opened the debate by saying: “The actions we are taking are completely new, while going well beyond the bounds, within the framework of international law.”

His former deputy immigration minister – Robert Jenrick, who was tasked with piloting the bill but resigned last week on the grounds that the terms were not sufficient to guarantee asylum seekers could be deported to Rwanda , refuted Cleverly.

“It will not prevent people from individually appealing deportation orders,” he said.

He said: “Courts will be overloaded with cases, and detention facilities will be filled. People have to be released, and they will disappear.”

Shadow Home Minister Yvette Cooper, of the opposition Labor Party, said: “We have sacked a Home Minister (Suella Braverman), an Immigration Minister (Jenricks) has resigned, and they (the Conservative government) have withheld almost 30% of taxpayers’ money. Ten million pounds (about Rs 30,000 crore) have been spent, without sending even a single person to Rwanda.