Rwanda immigration vote - Bolton MPs on how they will vote

The Safety of Rwanda Bill is emergency legislation is aimed at reviving the Government’s asylum policy to remove ‘certain migrants’ to the east African country after it was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.

Some Conservative MPs have spoken out to say they don’t believe it is strong enough, while others believe that changes could breach international law.

One of the Bolton Conservative MPs could rebel over the vote, however, due to it not ‘going far enough’.

Speaking to The Bolton News, Chris Green, MP for Bolton West, said: “My constituents have been deeply concerned about legal and illegal immigration for as long as I have been an MP.

Chris Green MP (Image: Public)

“Even though the Government has had significant success in reducing boat crossings, there is still more to do.

“My concern is whether or not this legislation goes far enough.

“Which is why I have had a meeting with the Home Secretary, a meeting with the Chief Whip and will be having a meeting with the Prime Minister later today to find out whether it will be strong enough or whether I will respect the concerns of constituents and rebel.”

He confirmed that he may rebel if he thinks the legislation is not strong enough.

Mr Green added: “I believe that there are so many people who put personal politics into this topic, they seem not to recognise that the people we should be helping are those fleeing persecution.

“What do people fleeing persecution need more than anything else? A safe home.

Small boats used to cross the channel (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

“It was a very narrow point from the Supreme Court that people might be sent from Rwanda to a third country. The United Nations uses Rwanda to home girls from Afghanistan.

“The particular point I am concerned about is whether or not the right of appeal can be exploited by the criminal gangs. They just have to find one loophole that they can exploit to get into the system and make the new legislation as effective as the current legislation.” 

Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, will vote against the bill. 

She said: "The Rwanda scheme is completely unworkable. It will not achieve the aim of reducing migration and costs an absolute fortune.

"They need to stop this gimmick and focus on tackling organised crime and processing asylum claims more quickly. I will be voting against the Bill.

Yasmin Qureshi MP (Image: Public)

"We cannot allow the Conservatives to set a very dangerous precedent in allowing any Government to just pass legislation to override the facts found in court. The fact is Rwanda is deemed to be an unsafe country by our courts.

"In any event, the scheme is failing on its own merits, we continue to pay hand over fist to Rwanda and Rwanda has yet to take a single asylum seeker. It has been revealed that we even have to take some Rwandan asylum seekers as part of the deal."

She added: "You have to ask what is the point? The Government needs to stop wrecking our longstanding values with this chaotic gimmick and focus on the day to day hard work of clearing the backlog and managing a fair and sustainable system." 

The Bill allows ministers to disapply the Human Rights Act but does not go as far as overriding the European Convention on Human Rights, which Tory hardliners have demanded.

A revolt by 29 Conservative MPs could be enough to defeat the bill at its first Commons hurdle, something that has not happened to a piece of Government legislation since 1986.

Ministers faced a last-ditch Tory plea to pull their Rwanda aslyum legislation amid warnings it will be “inoperable and ineffective” without amendments.

Conservative MPs on differing wings of the party made clear their concerns over the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, with some pressing for the Government to go further while others warned against such a move.

The Bill seeks to revive the stalled deportation plan by attempting to prohibit legal challenges based on the argument that Rwanda is unsafe.

It allows ministers to disapply the Human Rights Act but does not go as far as overriding the European Convention on Human Rights, something which Tory hardliners have urged.

Mark Logan MP has also been contacted for comment on this.