Rishi Sunak must find another country willing to accept deported asylum seekers from Britain if his Rwanda plan fails, former Conservative leader William Hague has warned.
The Tory grandee, a close ally of the prime minister, said a deportation scheme is a “necessary component” of the government’s “stop the boats” policy.
It comes as Mr Sunak is said to have been warned by government lawyers that trying to opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for his revised Rwanda plan won’t work.
“If it wasn’t Rwanda it would have to be somewhere else,” said Lord Hague on the prospect that Mr Sunak will not be able to get one-way flights to the central African country off the ground.
Lord Hague told Times Radio: “They have got to have some aspect of this policy that shows that if you come to Britain illegally you are going to get removed from it … So I think that is a necessary component, one way or another.”
The Tory peer said: “If it wasn’t Rwanda it would have to be somewhere else. Other countries are looking at very similar things and so this has got to feature somewhere in most governments’ approach to immigration.
“Otherwise, the illegal immigrant doesn’t have much disincentive at all to try to make that dangerous journey,” he added.
No 10 had said after the Supreme Court ruling against the Rwanda plan that Mr Sunak would soon produce an updated deal with the central African country and emergency legislation.
The under-pressure Tory leader is thought to be mulling over a plan to use “notwithstanding” clause in his new, emergency Rwanda legislation to direct British judges to ignore the ECHR.
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to get Rwanda flights off the ground— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
But the PM was said to have been warned of huge legal risks at a meeting on Saturday with home secretary James Cleverly, justice secretary Alex Chalk and attorney general Victoria Prentis.
Legal advice heard at the meeting warned that such a move to flout the convention could lead to further challenges on the grounds that the UK was not meeting its human rights obligation, according to The Times.
Asked if disapplying the ECHR had been ruled out of the Rwanda legislation, Mr Sunak’s spokesman said: “No … there are policy discussions ongoing about how we meet that objective [to stop the boats]”.
The No 10 official said a range of ideas were “still being discussed”.
Senior Tory Sir Robert Buckland has warned against any moves to disapply the ECHR – and said the Rwanda plan was not the “be all and end all”.
“It seems to me that unless the government does more, unless Rwanda does more, to satisfy everybody that it’s a safe country then we will continue to struggle with the problems that we saw up to and including the Supreme Court judgement.”
Mr Cleverly has angered the Tory right after saying the Rwanda plan was not the “be all and end all”. He is also seen as suspect among hardliners because he is known to be opposed to moves to opt out of the ECHR.
James Cleverly has warned of challenges posed by move to opt out of the ECHR— (PA Wire)
Seeking to calm Tory frustration at the failure to act, Mr Cleverly told MPs in the Commons on Monday that the Rwanda plan was “an incredibly important part of the basket of responses that we have”.
Mr Cleverly shrugged off a question from right-winger Simon Clarke, who said it was his “profound conviction” that the government must disapply the ECHR and UN Refugee Convention to get the Rwanda flights off the ground.
Fellow right-winger Miriam Cates – co-founder of the New Conservatives – said the government’s new Rwanda legislation should be “clear and unambiguous” in making sure parliament “takes legal precedence over the interpretation of international treaties and precedent”.
Senior Tory Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg launched a new attacked on Mr Sunak as he lashed out at the government’s failure to tackle legal migration – calling his government the most “inert” since the reign of Henry VI in the 15th century.
The former cabinet minister said current levels of migration “lets down an electorate that has given repeated mandates to get the numbers under control” and “could cost the Tory Party the next election”.
But Mr Buckland warned against raising salary thresholds for overseas workers too high – something immigration minister Robert Jenrick is thought to be pushing for.
“If you price it too high, we will end up with shortages in key areas like social care and frankly all that does is increase wage inflation,” the Tory moderate told GB News.
Meanwhile, Lord Hague also revealed that he went to “great lengths” to avoid becoming home secretary during his political career, describing the job as a “minefield” for any minister.
