There is no evidence for the government\u2019s claim that deportations will \u2018stop the boats\u2019<\/p>
The capitulation of the House of Lords over the government\u2019s Rwanda bill<\/a> was predictable \u2013 even if some opponents had hoped against hope that peers<\/a> might force a climbdown. As of now, UK law states that Rwanda is a \u201csafe country\u201d, making it possible for ministers to send asylum seekers there. The shameful course of action embarked on late last year, after the supreme court ruled the deportation policy unlawful, has thus concluded. Two years after Boris Johnson first announced the plan, Rishi Sunak is set to try again.<\/p> From parliament the focus now swings back to the courts, where lawyers will try to have individuals removed<\/a> from flight lists. The law allows for this if they face \u201creal, imminent and foreseeable risk of serious irreversible harm\u201d from being sent to Rwanda \u2013 which some undoubtedly will. Mr Sunak\u2019s calculation is that the policy makes political sense despite this and the \u00a31.8m estimated initial cost per deportee. Its appeal is two-pronged, and combines the fuelling of xenophobic sentiment among voters \u2013 by ensuring that irregular migration stays in the news \u2013 with papering over cracks in the Tory party between hard-right populists and what remains of the liberal centre-right.<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n