Lords Eye Up Significant Revisions To Rwanda Bill

A Lords committee report which said that the treaty with Rwanda should not be ratified until further guarantees about the country’s safety are in place, could be the “path” for any “revision” of the bill by peers, a Labour baroness has said.

The controversial Safety of Rwanda bill, which underpins Rishi Sunak’s plans to send asylum seekers to the African country, is due before the House of Lords on Monday afternoon for its second reading, with dozens of peers having entered their names to speak in the debate. 

Baroness Shami Chakrabarti pointed to the report from the International Agreements Committee earlier this month, that said ministers should provide Parliament with more information to prove that the “legal and practical” steps needed to ensure Rwanda is a safe country for asylum seekers have been taken, before the treaty is agreed to by Parliament.

While the treaty “might in time provide the basis” to be able to declare Rwanda safe, “as things stand the arrangements it provides for are incomplete,” their report said. 

The treaty is separate to the legislation that is back before peers this afternoon, but former shadow attorney general Chakrabarti believes the sentiment of that report could be a basis on which revisions to the legislation are suggested by peers. 

Chakrabarti told PoliticsHome: “Today is an important first debate on the greatest executive threat to the UK rule of law that I can remember. 

“However, if this repugnant bill gets a second reading, a very noble path to reasonable revision was lit by the cross-party International Agreements Committee earlier this month.”

She said that the government should agree to safeguards being tested in order to properly address the concerns with the plans raised by the