Suella Braverman calls for amendments to Immigration Act in order to start Rwanda flights before election
Suella Braverman has called for changes to her own Illegal Immigration Act to revive the Rwanda deportation scheme – admitting there is “no chance of stopping the boats within the current legal framework”.
The former home secretary has criticised the bill she introduced and passed in parliament in July, in her latest intervention since being sacked earlier this week.
In an opinion piece for The Daily Telegraph, she welcomed the prime minister’s pledge to “introduce emergency legislation” for flights to take off after the Supreme Court ruled this would be unlawful.
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However she said his plan to strike a new treaty with Rwanda to address the judges’ concerns will not solve the “fundamental issues”, saying for this to happen, “parliament needs to amend the Illegal Migration Act” .
Ms Braverman suggested five changes including – addressing the Supreme Court’s concerns by taking “practical steps to improve Rwanda’s asylum system” and “excluding all legal avenues of challenge” so flights can take off before the next election.
She also proposes amending the Immigration Act so that arrivals are removed within days and not months, excluding legal challenges to detaining people on arrival in order to “avoid burdening the courts” and introducing the emergency legislation by the Christmas recess and recalling parliament “to sit and debate it over the holiday period”
Echoing calls from other Tory MPs she wrote: “The entirety of the Human Rights Act and European Convention on Human Rights, and other relevant international obligations, or legislation, including the Refugee Convention, must be disapplied.”
She added: “There is no longer any chance of stopping the boats within the current legal framework.
“Having committed to emergency legislation, the prime minister must now give parliamentarians a clear choice: to either properly control illegal migration, or explain to the British people why they are powerless under international law and must simply accept ever greater numbers of illegal arrivals on these shores.”
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Explainer – how did the government policy end up in the courts?
Mr Sunak is under pressure to explain how he intends to circumnavigate human rights laws and international conventions following the Supreme Court ruling.
In its ruling, the UK’s highest court said the Rwanda scheme was not lawful because there was a risk that people sent there could be deported to the countries they are fleeing from (a term known as refoulement).
The judges said this fell foul not only of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which many Tory MPs want to leave, but also other international treaties and the UK’s own domestic legislation.
Sky News understands the New Conservatives group – a cohort of predominantly red wall MPs on the right of the party -plan to write to the prime minister demanding the promised new legislation be “over-engineered” so it can see off potential further legal challenges.
The group will make three requests to stop this from happening, including that the new legislation disapplies the UK Human Rights Act.
They will say it should also include “notwithstanding” clauses in order to override any international treaties or laws that could block the plan.
And they also want to give ministers powers to disregard so-called “pyjama injunctions” – which are last-minute orders from judges that could stop planes from taking off.
The group of MPs wants the legislation to be drawn up immediately, so it can be in place before the next general election.
Mr Sunak has staked his premiership on a promise to “stop the boats” with the Rwanda plan seen as central to fulfilling that pledge,
But with an election due by January 2025 at the latest, time is running out to pass new legislation, which can take months.
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Hunt offers no Rwanda guarantee
Earlier, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he could not guarantee flights will go to Rwanda next year – apparently contradicting Mr Sunak’s position on Wednesday that the scheme will be up and running by spring despite the Supreme Court ruling.
Comedy writer Bill Dare, – who worked on shows including Spitting Image and Dead Ringers – has died after an accident overseas, his agent said.
Described as a “super producer” by his peers, Dare, 64, worked on eight series of hugely popular satire puppet show Spitting Image.
Airing on ITV during the 1980s and 1990s, the show delighted in lampooning public figures including politicians, celebrities and royalty, winning BAFTAs and Emmys. It was rebooted in 2020.
Dare also created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
He also produced The Now Show, a satirical take on the news which ran on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.
Dare worked on a wide range of comedy shows during his career, including the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had also written several novels.
In a statement released on Monday, his agent JFL Agency confirmed he died at the weekend.
A spokesperson said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.
“Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”
Oasis depicted on Spitting Image in 1996. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Colleagues were quick to pay tribute and reflect on his talent.
Impressionist Jon Culshaw wrote on X: “It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”
David Baddiel posted on the social media platform: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”
Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was “devastated” and that her “entire comedy career was down to Bill”.
She wrote: “When I was on the BBC Radio 4 rep company early on in career – I ran into Bill in the corridors – He asked if I was good at accents. I said yes.
“He cast me in a sketch show. I had to do about 15 different accents. We recorded in front of a live audience at Broadcasting House – afterwards Bill said ‘Why have I never met you – you’re going to have a big career’.
“He was incredibly loyal and supportive and really opened a path for me into the R4 comedy world and then TV having come out of the RSC and theatre it was all new. I will always be grateful. Fly high Bill.”
Comedian and writer Mark Steel wrote: “This is so grim. Bill was a compassionate hearty soul with the ability to be beautifully grumpy, a marvellously thoughtful comic mind.
“He’d argue but always listen and you’d always laugh, he made a million shows and wanted them all to matter and would have made a million more.”
Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said: “I am utterly devastated by Bill’s death. I still can’t believe it. He was a comedy genius. A hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer. A close friend and co-writer. I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him.”
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Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.
“Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.
“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.
“He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.
“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.
“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”
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