Starmer predicts Government will win crunch vote on Rwanda Bill
The Labour leader also indicated he would consider a third-country asylum offshoring scheme.
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir Keir Starmer predicts the Governmentās Rwanda legislation will sail through a parliamentary vote on Tuesday ā and indicated a Labour government could consider a third-country asylum offshoring scheme.
As Rishi Sunak battles to ward off a revolt from his MPs over his Bill, the Labour leader said he has no doubt the Tories will back it in a crunch Commons vote.
Answering questions after a major speech in Buckinghamshire, Sir Keir told reporters on Tuesday: āItāll go through tonight, I donāt doubt. Thereāll be a lot of shouting and screaming but in the end, itāll go throughā¦
Iāll look at any scheme that might work
āI donāt think we should allow them the indulgence of pretending itās going to be tight and heās done a brilliant job to get it over the line.
āHeās got an 80-seat majority, he should get it over the line very, very easily.ā
If Mr Sunak does lose the vote, Sir Keir said āof course he should call a general electionā.
Labour will vote against the Safety of Rwanda Bill, a piece of emergency legislation aimed at reviving the Governmentās flagship asylum policy after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful.
āWe will oppose the scheme this evening for a number of reasons ā it doesnāt work, it will cost a fortuneā¦ and it is against our values,ā Sir Keir said.
He accused the Tories of being in an āindulgent vortexā of infighting, as he promised āpracticalā ways of preventing small boats from crossing the Channel, including tackling people-smuggling gangs.
Sir Keir, who has dismissed the Prime Ministerās bid to deport some asylum seekers to the African nation as a āgimmickā, signalled that he would consider a scheme under which asylum claims are processed elsewhere.
Pointing out how this would differ from the Rwanda plan, he said: āThis is a straight deportation scheme in relation to people whoāve already arrived.
āOther countries around the world do have schemes where they divert people on the way and process them elsewhere. Thatās a different kind of scheme.
āAnd, look, Iāll look at any scheme that might work.ā
The Opposition leader said that if the Rwanda legislation passes and Labour wins a general election next year, as polls suggest it is on track to do, he would scrap the scheme.
He said the Ā£240 million already spent would not prevent him from repealing the law, saying the money has āalready been wastedā.
Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden said Sir Keir is blocking the Rwanda plan ābecause he has never truly believed in being tough on illegal immigration and deterring people from making dangerous Channel crossingsā.
āWhilst Labour stick to their same old short-term approach of more migration, more borrowing and more taxes, we are taking the long-term decisions to secure Britainās future.ā