PROPOSALS to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda have been approved by MPs – as a vaunted Tory rebellion failed.
The controversial Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill passed its penultimate stage of Commons scrutiny on Wednesday night, after hard-right Conservative backbenchers failed to change the bill.
Led by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and Tory veteran Bill Cash, rebels unsuccessfully pushed amendments which aimed to give the Government wider scope to ignore human rights laws.
They said their amendments would militate against further legal challenges against the plans, which the Supreme Court struck down in their initial form last year.
While more than 60 Tory MPs backed the rebel amendments, their numbers were insufficient to force changes.
On the final vote of the night, just 11 Tory MPs, including Jenrick and former home secretary Suella Braverman, voted against the bill.
READ MORE: Rishi Sunak told Rwanda plan is 'straight out of right-wing extremist playbook'
The new bill, which now goes to the Lords for further scrutiny, prevents courts from considering appeals on the grounds that Rwanda is “unsafe”, which critics have said ignores reality and restricts the freedom of the judiciary.
It also gives ministers the power to ignore injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights, which have previously prevented flights taking asylum seekers to Rwanda from taking off.
An amendment put forward by Tory hardliners which would have ignored such injunctions "by default" garnered just 65 votes in favour.
Ministers will be given sweeping powers to ignore parts of the Human Rights Act but Tory rebels believe the unamended bill remained vulnerable to further legal challenges, which will frustrate the Government’s efforts to deport asylum seekers.
The threat of a major rebellion receded in the hours before the vote, with right-wing Tories briefing the press they would back the bill, despite their reservations.
The row over the legislation triggered the resignations of two deputy chairmen of the Conservative Party earlier this week when Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith quit their positions to back rebel amendments.
Speaking during the debate on the bill, SNP home affairs spokesperson Alison Thewliss accused the Government of emulating the people smuggling gangs it claims the legislation will stop.
She said: "This bill amounts to nothing more and nothing less than state-sponsored people trafficking.
"This Government is now, in effect, a criminal gang moving people across the world.”
Speaking after the bill passed, Thewliss added: "This unlawful Tory bill is straight out of the right-wing extremist playbook and is in no way representative of Scotland’s voice, values or priorities."
The plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has so far failed to see any migrants sent to Africa but has seen the UK pay the country £240 million so far.
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