Meddling Peers warned not to block ‘stop the boats’ law as Lords set to rip it apart
PEERS have been warned not to block Rishi Sunak’s ‘stop the boats’ law today – as Lords prepare to try and rip it up today.
A string of high profile lords including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, are set to slam the Illegal Migration Bill as it goes to the upper chamber for the first time later.
A whopping 87 have lined up to speak in today’s debate, ahead of a string of changes to try and tweak the vital new laws.
But a motion to cancel the new laws entirely is set to fail after Labour refused to back it.
The new laws will make it easier for ministers to remove people who come to the UK illegally – and send them to Rwanda or back to the country they came from.
It will narrow the challenges which can be used by leftie lawyers to frustrate removals, and give ministers a legal duty to remove people who come here illegally.
Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his five key priorities for the year – with many Tories saying their hopes of clinging on to power depend on it.
But ahead of the crunch showdown, Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk have warned Peers not to defy the will of the people and completely rip up the bill.
In a joint article for The Times, they say “illegal migration is out of control” and it is “unfair” on taxpayers who are coughing up the staggering £3billion a year asylum bill.
They remind them the law was a manifesto promise to control Britain’s borders – and again backed in the historic 2016 Brexit vote.
A huge 45,000 people came to the UK via small boats, and the numbers this year are predicted to be even higher – with 6,000 making the dangerous journey so far this year.
The pair say: “Illegal migration is out of control.
“It is also intolerably unfair: on taxpayers, on would-be immigrants who do the right thing and play by the rules, on people who see accommodation and public services put under unbearable pressure, and on those sold a dangerous lie by wicked people smugglers.
“For our country to be truly sovereign we must be able to decide who can enter our territory — the British people understand this in no uncertain terms.
“We urge the House of Lords to look at the Illegal Migration Bill carefully, remember it is designed to meet the will of the British people in a humane and fair way and back the bill.”
Ministers have already made several concessions to MPs on both the right and left of the Tory party in a bid to get them onside.
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They promised more safe and legal routes within months, an annual cap on the number of people Britain will resettle, and to instruct ministers to ignore so-called ‘section 39’ orders from other courts.
But Tory MPs including Theresa May and Iain Duncan Smith were furious after their attempts to try and keep protections for modern slavery in the bill failed in the Commons.
They are expected to try and continue the fight with Peers in the Lords – which has far more Labour and Lib Dem members than in the Commons and is likely to tack on a number of changes.
Another 269 came over the bank holiday weekend as Brits celebrated the coronation of King Charles.
Yesterday the Bibby Stockholm barge which is expected to hold 500 migrants, arrived in the UK ahead of a refurb.
It’s expected to take its first migrants aboard within weeks when it is berthed in Dorset.