Is the illegal Rwanda plan dead for good?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2023
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Within minutes of the Supreme Court ruling - that the government’s Rwanda scheme was ’unlawful’.
Deputy chairman Lee Anderson was out of the traps saying ministers should ‘go ahead and put planes in the air to Rwanda anyway’. He has a way with words.
But 50 other Tory colleagues weren’t that far off the sentiment, urging Rishi to change UK immigration law to make it work. The government was warned - by the Lords - a year ago the whole scheme would be found unlawful. But perhaps this was never about Rwanda or policy, but about party confidence in the PM.
Where is he now? Why isn't the party talking about the drop of inflation on a day of good economic news? And does the new Home Secretary think the Rwanda plan was batshit?
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producer: Laura FitzPatrick
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Producers: Jack McKay & Arvind Badewal
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:08.1 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:11.6 | The government has already been working in advance on a new treaty with Rwanda, |
| 0:15.7 | which we will finalise in light of today's judgment, |
| 0:18.5 | so to address the challenges that were raised. |
| 0:21.3 | But let me say this again, if it becomes clear that our domestic legal frameworks or international |
| 0:26.4 | conventions are still frustrating plans at that point, I am prepared to change our laws and revisit |
| 0:32.2 | those international relationships. The British people expect us to do whatever it takes to stop the boats, and that is precisely |
| 0:39.1 | what this government will deliver. Rishi Sunak, speaking in the Commons, you'd almost think |
| 0:44.0 | the government had scored a minor victory at the Supreme Court over its Rwanda policy, instead of |
| 0:50.2 | which it was a damning verdict from the Supreme Court justices who found unanimously |
| 0:56.2 | against the Home Secretary's appeal to allow the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda. |
| 1:04.2 | And what was the Prime Minister's response to that today? |
| 1:07.1 | They are frustrating our plans. |
| 1:10.7 | The Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal that it was |
| 1:14.7 | unlawful and the response from our Prime Minister is they are frustrating our plans. This is UK |
| 1:22.9 | immigration law they are trying to uphold and there are many in Rishi-Soon-Ex party right now, |
| 1:28.6 | 50 or so MPs who just say, sod it, let's just do it anyway. Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:38.8 | The Newsagents. It's John. It's Emily. It's Lewis. And we've had the Supreme Court ruling, which when you listen to it, you thought, I bet this is going to be one of those very finely balanced judgments. |
| 1:51.7 | We've heard this and we've heard that. |
| 1:53.5 | And on reflection, we've kind of landed here. |
| 1:56.8 | It was nothing like that. |
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