Yesterday I supported the Rwanda bill at 3rd reading. This policy and particularly the wider issue of illegal migration is one that is extremely important to my constituents and I. We have to get this right.
I strongly believed that the best way to make this legislation work was to support the amendments that were tabled. These amendments were consistent with arguments I have made numerous times in the past and also voted for.
In order to support these amendments I had to resign from my position as a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, as I was quite rightly bound by collective responsibility. This was not an easy decision and one that took a great deal of soul-searching.
But this was not a binary decision about whether I supported the Rwanda plan or not. It was also not a debate about whether the bill should be ‘tougher’ or ‘softer’. It was a debate about the best way to make this plan work. That’s what we all want.
This legislation will now go to the House of Lords to consider. Whilst I have spoken to many Conservative peers, who are as passionate about this issue as I am, I cannot speak for others and I hope they take into account the strength of feeling in the Commons and from the public over tackling illegal migration. This legislation now needs to become law and we need to get planes taking off as soon as possible.
I have been assured that this piece of legislation is the best possible that is available to us under the constraints we are working under. Whilst I have my own reservations about the ECHR, the Human Rights Act and the Blair-era legal framework we are working under, these are battles that will be fought at another time and ideally will part of a manifesto.
Those issues were not on the table yesterday. I therefore could not vote against the whole Rwanda bill based on the fact it wasn’t exactly the way I wanted it.
I want this legislation to work and that’s why it now needs our full support. It must work.
