Suella Braverman said: “We need to demonstrate effectiveness, and that's what the discussion is about now.” Photo: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AFP via Getty Images
The “time for talking” about tackling illegal immigration is over, Suella Braverman said, warning that the policy to deport Rishi Sunak from Rwanda was doomed to fail.
The former Home Secretary, who was sacked by the prime minister last month, said the Rwanda bill, published on Wednesday, did not go far enough and would not stop the boats unless it was tightened.
She called for changes changes to the bill that will prevent any claims by individual migrants under domestic and international law, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The draft law obliges judges to treat Rwanda as a safe country. after the Supreme Court ruled that the scheme was illegal due to the risks to refugees.
The legislation that Parliament must vote on gives ministers the power to ignore sections of the Human Rights Act.
But it does not go as far as allowing the ECtHR to be overruled, as hard-liners including Ms Braverman have demanded. It led to Robert Jenrick's resignation as immigration secretary just hours after Mr Sunak introduced the bill, saying it “doesn't go far enough” and is a “triumph of hope over experience”.
Ms Braverman told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: “The Prime Minister promised to stop the boats at the start of the year. Now we need to fulfill this promise. The time for talk, the time for slogans and promises has passed. We need to demonstrate effectiveness and that's what we're talking about now.”
The former home secretary said there were “elements” in the new bill that should be welcomed, but warned that section four would allow individual migrants to file claims for their deportation.
“We cannot solve this problem. We cannot do half measures. We must completely eliminate international law, the Refugee Convention and other broader avenues of legal challenge,” Ms. Braverman said. “Because the reality is that in this area of law, people will file lawsuits through the courts, and those lawsuits will block flights to Rwanda.
“There are elements to be welcomed in this new bill introduced by the Prime Minister. But if you look at it as a whole and look at the reality of the issues around detaining people and deporting them and bringing them into Rwanda – it is a very controversial area and there are many legal frameworks that apply – the reality is that and unfortunately the truth is that it won't work and won't stop the boats.”
Ms Braverman, who warned on Wednesday that the Conservatives faced “selective oblivion within months” if they declared a state of emergency in Rwanda. Legislation 'doomed to fail' denies the Tories have a 'death wish'.
'We cannot continue to let the British people down. We made promise after promise. We put forward plan after plan. They all failed and now we are running out of time. This is an issue of enormous importance to the majority of Britons, who desperately want us to solve it. We have to be honest about this,” she said.
“The decision is a kind of dismissal provision that precludes individual claims so that we can get the Secretary of State to make decisions about detention, removal and how we can send flights to Rwanda faster.
“My statements have been focused on policy and I urge the Prime Minister to change course and change policy.”
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