DEAL DONE
Home Secretary James Cleverly signs new treaty with Rwanda in hope of getting migration flights by spring
The Home Secretary has signed a fresh deportation deal with Rwanda later today
JAMES Cleverly has today sealed a beefed-up deal with Rwanda in the hope of getting migration flights off the ground by next spring.
The Home Secretary inked the treaty with his counterpart in Kigali this afternoon during a whistle-stop trip to the African country.
2
2
Downing Street this morning said the agreement would help meet Rishi Sunak's pledge to begin removals within months.
The PM said today: "I said I would stop the boats. I meant it. We've signed a treaty with Rwanda making it clear that it's us who decides who comes to this country – not criminal gangs."
Emergency legislation to declare Rwanda a "safe country" with the aim of avoiding further legal challenge is also expected this week.
Mr Sunak hopes today's fresh treaty with Rwanda will reassure the , which ripped the plan apart.
Top judges were not convinced that asylum seekers sent to Rwanda would not later be returned back to their country of origin.
The Home Office insisted the new treaty "ensures that people relocated to Rwanda under the Partnership are not at risk of being returned to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened".
READ MORE POLITICS
The deal will be overseen by a strengthened "independent monitoring committee", the Home Office said.
But taxpayers will be on the hook for more money as a result of direct costs arising from the new treaty, including setting up a new appeals body.
Most read in Politics
Some £140million has already been sent since the first deal was signed in 2022.
Speaking after signing the new treaty, Mr Cleverly told a press conference: "We feel very strongly that this treaty addresses all the issues raised by their Lordships in the Supreme Court, and we have worked very closely with our Rwandan partners to ensure that it does.
"The UK has been working with a Rwanda not just as a Commonwealth partner, on a range of issues which I alluded to in my opening remarks, but specifically on the migrant and economic development partnership... migration economic development partnership.
"Throughout the time that we've been working with the Rwandan government, they have shown an energy and a professionalism and a desire to to work in a collaborative partnership way with the UK."
He said he has been "uncomfortable" with elements of the criticism directed at Rwanda "for having the courage to step forward and try and be part of the solution".
Rwanda's foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta added: "I want to reaffirm that the people relocated to Rwanda will be welcomed and that they will be provided both the safety and support they need to build new lives.
"Rwanda looks forward to further strengthening cooperation with the United Kingdom and to implementing this treaty."
NEW TREATY
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told Cabinet the deal was "substantially" more "robust" than the one first agreed in 2022.
The new deal was delayed by wrangling over Britain’s involvement in the Rwandan asylum and legal system.
The fresh treaty will address concerns that Rwanda might return genuine asylum seekers to face “ill treatment” in the country they had fled.
It could also see British lawyers stationed in Rwandan courts.
Mr Jenrick said he's confident flights will take off to Rwanda before a showdown general election next year.
Asked whether he is certain planes will leave for Kigali, the minister told Sky News: "I am. But we will need to do a few things to achieve that.
"The treaty that the Home Secretary is going to sign later today, I hope, will create a fundamentally different and better arrangement with the government of Rwanda that answers the concerns of the Supreme Court.
"Then we're going to bring forward a piece of emergency legislation which will embed that in British, UK law and go further to close some of the loopholes that bring spurious claims and prevent migrants from being put on those planes."
Mr Jenrick added: "Together, I think that will enable us to get this plan up and running."
However, the Government still needs to get emergency legislation over the line in the UK to make it work.
Ministers hope to bring legislation to Parliament before MPs leave for their Christmas break in just over two weeks.
But they have not ruled out sitting over the festive period in order to get the legislation through.
Rwandan government sources stressed they remained “rock solid” in their commitment to Rishi Sunak’s scheme amid claims they were going wobbly.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
A No 10 source said: “If there is an extra cost to addressing the problems the Supreme Court raised, we’re confident it pales in comparison to the £8million a day being spent on migrant hotels.”
The Rwanda scheme is a key plank of Mr Sunak’s promise to “stop the boats” plan.
Rwanda plan explained
By MARTINA BET
Why is there a fresh treaty with Rwanda?
Home Secretary James Cleverly has signed a fresh treaty with Rwanda in a bid to get the Government’s stalled asylum policy off the ground.
Last month, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the scheme, to deport UK asylum seekers to the African country to have their claims heard, was unlawful.
Five of the UK’s most senior justices raised several concerns, mainly emphasising the significant risk of asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they could potentially face danger.
This act of sending refugees back to danger, known as ";refoulement," goes against several international human rights laws that the UK has agreed to follow.
What does the new treaty seek to do?
The new treaty replaces the existing Memorandum of Understanding with a legally binding international agreement and seeks the address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court about the safety and proper handling of asylum claims in Rwanda.
It needs to be ratified by both the UK and Rwandan parliaments to make it internationally binding,
Under the new treaty, Rwanda will create a special court process for certain cases, like when an asylum seeker in Rwanda commits a crime and might be sent back.
Judges from Britain, the Commonwealth, and Rwanda will be in charge of these court cases and will decide if the asylum seeker can stay in Rwanda or must return to the UK.
However, many details about this new agreement are still not clear. It's also not known how many British or Commonwealth judges will be involved and what their exact role will be.
How would Parliament be involved in a treaty with Rwanda?
The Government can negotiate and agree to treaties, but Parliament's role is to review them. For a treaty between the UK and Rwanda, Parliament will look at the treaty and can either agree to it or raise objections. However, it's not easy for Parliament to stop a treaty from being approved.
Under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, the Government must present a treaty to both the House of Commons and the House of Lords for 21 sitting days. During this time, Parliament members and select committees can review it.
But If neither House objects, the Government can finalise it. If there's an objection, the Government has to explain why the treaty should still be ratified and can restart the 21-day process.
What about the emergency legislation promised by the Prime Minister?
The Home Secretary said emergency legislation to confirm that Rwanda is safe would be introduced "soon".
The legislation will go through the same process as any other Bill.
Could it face challenges in the Lords?
The timeline for passing a Bill varies, and while the Government can set a schedule in the Commons, it cannot do so in the Lords.
This means it is likely that there will be a deadlock, with the Bill going back and forth between the Commons, where the Government has a majority, and the Lords, where it does not.
The Government's previous attempt to pass the Illegal Migration Bill was severely criticised in the Lords, with the Archbishop of Canterbury among the most vocal critics.
For weeks, the Government had been locked in a battle over the final shape of the Bill with peers, repeated amendments were made.
The legislation was central to the PM's pledge to stop small boats crossing the English Channel, as it gave the Home Secretary the legal duty to detain and remove anyone entering the UK illegally.
Topics