Adam Harmsworth, Coventry Socialist Party
On Tuesday 16 January, as the Socialist goes to press, the Tories’ widely despised ‘Rwanda bill’ returned to Parliament. The original plan to ship some asylum seekers to processing sites in Rwanda was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court, due to safety concerns. But Rishi Sunak appears determined to make good on his ‘stop the boats’ rhetoric in a desperate attempt to recover in the polls.
The Bill has come back to Parliament after a new report on routes for migrants to enter the UK revealed absolutely no legal paths for asylum seekers. Nobody can claim asylum without being in the UK, and nobody can enter the UK to claim asylum! The exceptions are specific routes usually made for political convenience. Civilians in Ukraine and Hong Kong can seek asylum legally, but Palestinians for example aren’t on the list. That leaves most of those fleeing war and persecution with only dangerous options, like the small boats crossing the Channel that frequently cause deaths.
Once they get here, asylum seekers have no access to money other than £49.18 a week – reduced to just £8.18 if they are in accommodation that provides food. They cannot legally get work, often meaning they take up illegal and exploitative employment.
If they are detained before or after an asylum claim, they can be subjected to an indefinite stay in grim detention centres.
Tory rebellion
However, the new Bill may become even worse thanks to a rebellion in the Tory ranks. Over 60 MPs including two deputy chairmen of the Tory Party itself are backing even harsher amendments. They want to further restrict, or even end, any right to legally challenge deportations.
If Sunak doesn’t support the amendments, only 29 of those MPs need to oppose his own bill – or 57 to abstain – to stop it entirely. But many of the approximately 100 ‘One Nation’ Tory MPs are opposed to the right-wing amendments, and only 29 of them would need to oppose an amended Rwanda bill to stop that as well.
The Tories are desperately divided over their future, so much that a split in the party may be on the cards in the period ahead. Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has warned in a Telegraph article, “three strikes and you’re out”. Their division reflects the crisis in capitalism, which has created so many refugees in the first place. Starmer’s Labour, equally tied to capitalism, is looking to carry out virtually the same policies as the Tories on refugees.
Asylum seekers will never be guaranteed safety in a system where politicians can play with their lives in hopes of a boost in the polls. It will take socialist change here and internationally to ensure those fleeing persecution and war can find safety, and end the causes of the wars and crises that force people to seek asylum in the first place.
