The British Immigration Minister resigned on the night of December 6, citing “deep disagreement” with the policy of sending migrants to Rwanda. The right wing of conservatives believes that this policy is not strict enough.
First Amendment:
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With RFI London correspondent Emmeline Finn
In his resignation letter, Robert Jenrick highlighted “deep differences with the government’s leadership on immigration”, which has been his department for the past year. “I cannot stand my ground when I strongly disagree with the direction of the government’s immigration policy,” the former ally of Rishi Sunak wrote on X (formerly Twitter), arguing that his plan “doesn’t go far enough.”
A few hours ago, Downing Street published a draft law allowing the transfer of the asylum system to Rwanda. The courts ruled that the policy was illegal, but the bill would allow the government to legally consider Rwanda a safe country, thus ignoring its human rights obligations.
Not far enough
For the resigned minister, and for the entire Conservative Party in power, this emergency law goes no further: the hardline wing has expected to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
The departure of Robert Jenrick heralds a partisan rebellion during the vote on the law, for which a date has not yet been set. If it is defeated, it will be a huge slap in the face to the power of Rishi Sunak, less than a year before the next election and at a time when he has promised to reduce illegal immigration.
The Prime Minister responded in a letter that his resignation was “disappointing”, fearing that it was “based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation”.
What future awaits Sunak?
On the morning of Thursday 7 December, the press was pessimistic about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Robert Jenrick has knocked Boris Johnson off the front pages of newspapers, despite the fact that Boris Johnson yesterday explained his much-discussed management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
he Daily expression, a tabloid newspaper that is never short of shocking sentences, summed up the episode: “Jenrick rebels against the Rwanda agreement.” The former minister believes that the government’s immigration strategy does not go any further: he and all the right wing of the party wanted to exit international agreements, as he explains. times.
“Circus” in government
Very conservative The Daily Telegraph Another figure emerges from the party’s right: Suella Braverman, the former Home Secretary, who a few hours before Jenrick’s resignation promised the government “electoral oblivion”, precisely because of her immigration strategy.
Since last night, the Labor opposition has denounced the government as a “circus”, more interested in “demonstration” than public service. In an editorial, daily Mail He summed up what was at stake in this resignation, less than a year before the next election: “Will Conservatives To fight among themselves, and when will they start fighting with the Labor Party?
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