There is some truth to the claim that there has been a big shift in power away from Parliament and a narrowing of politics – but in the British constitution, a government with a majority could fix that.
The sovereignty of Parliament, as the representative of the people, has been eroded, and power handed to an increasingly assertive bureaucracy.
The rebels have a fair case that the Government’s previous attempts to thread the needle on deportations have failed, and may fail again. But that doesn’t mean their amendments would get planes in the air.
The only means by which individuals should be able to avoid removal, is by demonstrating to Home Office officials, that they have entered the country legally, are under 18, or are medically unfit to fly.
At the end of the day, people will only stop coming here illegally when they know that they cannot stay, will be detained and quickly removed to a safe third country.
His Bill may be held up in the Lords as he continues to insists that his Government will stop the boats. The only means of squaring the two would be an election with illegal migration centre-stage.
The judgment may be a setback, but it is certainly not an insurmountable obstacle. It is open to Ministers to respond to the Supreme Court’s concerns and move urgently to implement this important policy.
The Home Secretary declared that “our country has become enmeshed international rules that were designed for another era. Labour turbocharged their impact by passing the misnamed Human Rights Act. I am surprised they didn’t call it the Criminal Rights Act.”
The Conservative Party seems to be allergic to *doing things*, whether that be building houses, securing a cheap and plentiful supply of energy, prosecuting and locking up criminals, or securing our borders.
They have been introduced in response to backbench pressure – with the Government seeming to accept the argument that the Bill as introduced was vulnerable to litigation. Parliament should accept them, but should be aware that some risks remain.
The European Court of Human Rights seems unlikely to block the Rwanda policy outright, but it could try to foul it up until after the next election.
The Prime Minister must make up his mind whether or not to see through a policy to stop the small boats – now an issue of profound symbolic importance.
Take the case of a Nigerian national who was sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison for offences including possessing crack cocaine and heroin with the intention to supply. The First-tier Tribunal allowed his appeal against deportation on grounds deportation was irreconcilable with Article 8.
The new leader should review the Government’s current plans and focus limited time and political capital where it counts.
I doubt that the KlimaSeniorinnen judgment will help states better address climate change – but it certainly helps seal the case for states to withdraw from the ECHR.