Tory rebels table amendments aimed at ‘toughening’ Sunak’s Rwanda bill

Published

1 year ago

January 10, 2024

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More than 30 Tory MPs are poised to back amendments aimed at “toughening” Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill when it returns to the Commons next week.

The prime minister is braced for yet another showdown with the right-wing faction of his party, which believes the legislation in its current form will not stop further legal challenges to the deportation policy.

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The Safety of Rwanda Bill seeks to address the concerns of the Supreme Court, which ruled the Rwanda scheme unlawful last November.

However, Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister and one of the leading rebels, said: “The bill as drafted simply will not work because it doesn’t end the merry-go-round of legal challenges that frustrate removals.”

The changes he wants to see include a clause to allow ministers to ignore so-called “pyjama injunctions” issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which are last-minute orders from judges that could stop planes from taking off.

He also wants migrants to be blocked from bringing individual claims to suspend flights “in all but a limited set of circumstances”, and a broader block on claims that could be made under international treaties and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The amendments are designed to close off the vast majority of routes to legal challenges by migrants while leaving a few exceptions, such as when a migrant is medically unfit to fly (including pregnancy), or when they are under 18.

They are said to be supported by more 30 Tory MPs, including the recently sacked home secretary Suella Braverman, former cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and leaders of the New Conservatives Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates.

Mr Jenrick, who resigned in protest over the Rwanda bill, said: “The stakes for the country could not be higher.

“If we don’t fix this bill the country will be consigned to more illegal crossings, more farcical migrant hotels and billions more of wasted taxpayers’ money in the years to come.”

However, the amendments could face opposition from the moderate wing of the Conservative Party, which has warned it will not support any measures which could breach the UK’s international obligations.

Mr Sunak has said he would welcome “bright ideas” on how to improve the the bill, but has previously insisted it strikes the right balance between rescuing the deportation plan and more radical measures that would risk Kigali pulling out of the scheme.

The legislation seeks to enable parliament to deem Rwanda “safe” generally but makes limited allowances for personal claims against being sent to the east African nation under a clause disliked by Conservative hardliners.

Mr Sunak won a key Commons vote on the draft law in December despite speculation about a major rebellion, with Tory MPs warning at the time that they will vote it down at a later parliamentary stage if it is not tightened.

MPs will get two days to scrutinise the plan at the committee stage next week, and it will also face heavy scrutiny in the House of Lords.

It comes after Labour was defeated in its bid to force the government to release documents relating to the cost of the scheme, with MPs voting down the plan by 304 votes to 288.

The Home Office has confirmed £290m has been committed to Rwanda, despite no flights having taken off.

But Labour wants to know what future payments have been promised, claiming the cost could balloon to £400m.

Mr Sunak has also recently come under scrutiny over doubts he is said to have had about the scheme before becoming prime minister.

He has made the policy central to his premiership and key to his pledge to prevent Channel crossings.

But reports have suggested that he had doubts about the policy when he was chancellor and during his campaign for the Tory leadership.

Politics

Shouts of ‘genocide’ in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel’s ‘intolerable’ actions in Gaza

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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Shouts of 'genocide' in Commons as David Lammy denounces Israel's 'intolerable' actions in Gaza

The foreign secretary has denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza as “intolerable” but stopped short of saying it had committed genocide.

MPs could be heard shouting “genocide” in the Commons chamber as David Lammy announced the government was suspending its trade negotiations with Israel and summoning Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, to the Foreign Office.

The UK has also sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank which it says have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians – including Daniella Weiss, a leading settler activist who was the subject of Louis Theroux’s recent documentary The Settlers.

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Israel immediately criticised the UK government actions as “regrettable” and said the free trade agreement talks, which ministers have now backed out of, were “not being advanced at all by the UK government”.

Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, said: “If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”

Mr Lammy’s intervention came in response to Israel ramping up its latest military offensive in Gaza and its decision to limit the amount of aid into the enclave.

Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly” imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians by blocking aid from entering Gaza more than 10 weeks ago.

He also told the UN’s security council last week that it must “act now” to “prevent genocide” – a claim that Israel has vehemently denied.

Speaking in the Commons, the foreign secretary said the threat of starvation was “hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians” and that the 11-week blockade stopping humanitarian aid reaching Gaza was “indefensible and cruel”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into the besieged enclave in response to global concern at reports of famine.

Mr Lammy said Mr Netanyahu’s govenrment was “isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world”.

“We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict,” Mr Lammy added.

“Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”

Referring to one of the far-right ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s government, he said Bezalel Smotrich “even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what’s left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries”.

MPs from across the house shouted “genocide” as Mr Lammy said: “We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

In the Commons, a number of Labour MPs urged the government to go further against Israel.

Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South and Walkden, said there needed to be a “full arms embargo” and said: “Can I ask the foreign secretary what additional steps he’s going to be taking in order to stave off this genocide?”

Another Labour MP told Sky News that while the statement was “better than previously…without a concrete timeline and a sanctioning of responsible ministers, it’s hard to know what tangible difference it will make.”

Israeli officials have said its plans to seize all of Gaza and hold it indefinitely. – which would move the civilian population southward – will help it achieve its aim of defeating Hamas.

Israel also believes the offensive will prevent Hamas from looting and distributing humanitarian aid, which it says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and reacted angrily to a joint statement penned by the leaders of the UK, France and Canada, in which they urged Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid allowed into the enclave.

The Israeli prime minister said: “By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities.

“No nation can be expected to accept anything less and Israel certainly won’t. This is a war of civilisation over barbarism. Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”

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SEC crypto task force to release first report ‘in the next few months’

Published

3 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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<div>SEC crypto task force to release first report 'in the next few months'</div>

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Paul Atkins appeared before lawmakers in one of his first hearings since becoming chair of the financial regulator, addressing questions about his plans for the cryptocurrency industry.

In a May 20 hearing discussing oversight of the SEC, Atkins reiterated his pledge to make regulating digital assets a “key priority” while chair. In response to questions from North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards, the SEC chair did not directly answer how much of the regulator’s funds were used to support the crypto task force headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, and said its findings were “still under development.”

“We should be having something here in the next few months with proposed steps forward,” said Atkins in response to the task force’s first report.

Cryptocurrencies, Government, SEC, United States — *Paul Atkins at a May 20 SEC oversight hearing. Source:* *House Appropriations Committee*

The SEC chair’s appearance at the oversight hearing was one of his first since being sworn into office in April. Nominated by Donald Trump, Atkins, also a former commissioner, was seen by many lawmakers and those in the digital asset industry as someone who could radically change the SEC’s approach to crypto.

Looking to Congress for help with regulatory clarity

Atkins’ remarks came less than 24 hours after US Senators voted to move forward on consideration of a bill to regulate stablecoins, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act. The bill is one of many related to aspects of digital assets that could affect how the SEC regulates the industry alongside agencies like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Whatever happens in Congress […] that will help undergird what we do,” said Atkins.

Since being sworn into office in April, the SEC chair has given opening remarks and overseen the commission’s roundtable events on digital assets. The next event, scheduled for June 9, will have SEC commissioners and industry leaders discuss issues related to decentralized finance.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Politics

Suspension of trade talks a political signal that Israeli leadership is increasingly isolated

Published

4 hours ago

May 20, 2025

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Suspension of trade talks a political signal that Israeli leadership is increasingly isolated

The UK has suspended trade talks with Israel, in protest at what David Lammy called the “intolerable” conditions in Gaza, which he said would leave the population at risk of starvation.

This is, the foreign office confirms, a UK first, in suspending trade talks for a political or humanitarian reason. The Israeli ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, will be summoned to the Foreign Office to deliver the message.

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This suspension, with immediate effect, is a political signal that the Israeli leadership is increasingly isolated even among its allies; and intended to ratchet up the pressure to let aid in.

It comes with a step change in the UK’s language on the humanitarian situation.

Keir Starmer on Monday night, in his joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said there would be “concrete steps” if food and medicine continued to be held up at borders; and this is one of the levers available.

David Lammy, announcing the move and targeted sanctions against West Bank settlers linked to violence, called it a “dark phase” in the conflict and said: “[Benjamin] Netanyahu’s actions have made this necessary.”

Trade talks were launched under Rishi Sunak’s government, and a 2030 Roadmap was agreed for boosting trade.

Gaza live: UK halts trade talks with Israel

But although the Labour government committed to continuing with it, the last round of talks was held more than a year ago.

Israel has, the UN say, not allowed trucks in for 11 weeks, after saying Hamas steal the aid intended for civilians. Some trucks entered on Tuesday, but aid agencies say it is nowhere near enough.

With the collapse of the latest talks between the two sides in Qatar last week, the ceasefire the UK is calling for looks far off.

Using economic measures to force the aid issue is likely to be a signal to other allies, including the European Union, to take similar steps.