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As a reminder, it was then Prime Minister Boris Johnson who came up with the idea of sending illegal migrants to Africa. It was foreseeable that the planes to Rwanda would probably stay on the runway. But as a Potemkin political show for the conservative electorate, the idea was a good one.
Stopping the small boats on the English Channel and flying illegal immigrants to Rwanda remained one of Rishi Sunak’s big election promises. The British government spared no expense for this. London has so far transferred around 300 million francs to the government in Kigali. Per capita deportation costs are expected to be around 200,000 francs.
Court cancels plans
The flights to Rwanda were recently “cancelled” not by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but by the Supreme Court. This concluded that the deportation violated international law. In addition, the independence of the judiciary in Rwanda is not guaranteed. The Supreme Court is not the first court to overturn the British government’s plans. As a result, to date, more British ministers have flown to Rwanda than illegal migrants.
In order to adjust this, Prime Minister Rihsi Sunak has now conjured up a new idea. Parliament is now supposed to declare the East African development dictatorship a secure constitutional state by law. This would evaporate the fact that Great Britain has publicly criticized the small totalitarian state several times in recent years for human rights violations. Every court would have to adhere to the legally prescribed description of reality.
Violation of separation of powers
Parliament could just as easily decide that cats are dogs from now on, a former British judge explained a few days ago. The British Bingham Institute for the Rule of Law comes to the conclusion that such an instruction would constitute a violation of the separation of powers.
The bill clearly goes too far for moderate conservatives. However, Sunak’s law is still too lax for the right-wing conservative wing, as long as migrants can still claim medical, religious or ethnic reasons to prevent deportation. The conservative hardliners finally want to see a plane take off for Africa without any “ifs and buts”. It’s no longer about a solution, but about symbolism. The fact that this is neither expedient nor humane plays a minor role a year before the next elections.