The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that he believes the government’s Rwanda Bill will pass through the parliamentary vote on Tuesday evening.
He said on that he has no doubt that Prime Minister will get his crunch Commons vote as Rishi Sunak is battling to ward off a Tory revolt.
At a speech in Buckinghamshire Sir Keir told reporters on Tuesday, “It’ll go through tonight, I don’t doubt. There’ll be a lot of shouting and screaming but in the end, it’ll go through.
“I don’t think we should allow them the indulgence of pretending it’s going to be tight and he’s done a brilliant job to get it over the line.
“He’s got an 80-seat majority, he should get it over the line very, very easily.”
If Sunak does lose the vote, the Labour leader said, “of course he should call a general election.”
Sir Keir has said that Labour will vote against the Safety of the proposed Rwanda Bill after the Supreme Court ruled that the scheme is unlawful.
“We will oppose the scheme this evening for a number of reasons – it doesn’t work, it will cost a fortune… and it is against our values,” Sir Keir said.
Sir Keir has hinted that Labour would consider a scheme where asylum claims are processed somewhere else.
He said Labour’s plan will differ from the Rwanda plan, Sir Keir said, “This is a straight deportation scheme in relation to people who’ve already arrived.
“Other countries around the world do have schemes where they divert people on the way and process them elsewhere. That’s a different kind of scheme.
“And, look, I’ll look at any scheme that might work.”
He said that the £240 million of taxpayers money which has already been spent on the Rwanda scheme has “already been wasted.”
Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden said the Labour leader is blocking the Rwanda scheme “because he has never truly believed in being tough on illegal immigration and deterring people from making dangerous Channel crossings.
“Whilst 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 Britain’s future.”
