Finally, the Rwanda Bill has got through Parliament. After interminable back and forth between Commons and Lords, and the expenditure of endless political energy and goodwill, the Prime Minister has got his way. Failed asylum seekers may now be sent to Rwanda, legal challenges allowing. But was it really worth it? So much effort for such a small return? The Bill had few friends. It was more of a token of willingness to deal with irregular migration than a substantive policy. It confused and divided many of the Conservatives’ own supporters. The legal device of using a bill to declare a country safe was unprecedented. Certainly the problem of people arriving illegally has got worse — over 6,000 to date this year. And as our tragic story today about the migrants who drowned at sea shows, the human cost is enormous.
The real problem is that for voters in general and Tory voters in particular, the Rwanda Bill did not even attempt to deal with the main issue, which is the astonishing increase in legal migration which now stands at 1.2 million gross in the year to June 2023, or over 672,000 after you subtract the numbers of people leaving. By comparison with this figure, which is entirely within the Government’s control, the number of potential Rwanda deportations is trivial. It’s this that actually exercises voters.
