Rishi Sunak - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

British PM Sunak’s Rwanda scheme set to pass parliament but challenges await

THE British parliament is set to finally approve a divisive law this week to pave the way for asylum seekers to be deported to Rwanda, but further legal hurdles could yet hold up or derail one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's key policies. Sunak has invested huge political capital in the Rwanda scheme whose success or failure might be crucial to his Conservative party's fortunes in an upcoming election, given his promise it will stop tens of thousands of people arriving without permission in small boats across the Channel. The new legislation is poised to get lawmakers' approval, unamended, by…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

UK’s Rwanda asylum legislation to return to parliament after Easter

NEWS

LEGISLATION that seeks to block further court challenges to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda will next be debated in parliament on April 15. The government wants to relocate thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in Britain on small, inflatable boats each year to live in Rwanda, but legal challenges have so far prevented anyone being sent to the East African country yet. To overcome objections by the court, Sunak's government is passing the bill that declares Rwanda a safe country for asylum seekers and disapplies parts of human rights law in an attempt…

Mar

2024

By ANDREW MACASKILL

UK plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda suffers first parliamentary defeats

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered his first defeat over his legislation to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after the upper house of parliament demanded greater protections to be introduced before deportation flights can take off. Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive on England's southern coast in small, inflatable boats would be sent to live in Rwanda, but so far no one has been deported because of ongoing legal challenges. In an effort to overcome resistance from the courts, Sunak's government is passing legislation through parliament that would block further legal challenges…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

UK PM Sunak makes transgender jibe during visit of murdered girl’s mother

WORLD

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joked that the leader of the opposition Labour Party could not define what a woman was, during a parliamentary exchange that the mother of a murdered transgender girl had been invited to watch. Last week, two teenagers were jailed, for the murder of Brianna Ghey, who was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife, and a Labour lawmaker had invited Ghey's mother to watch Sunak's weekly question-and-answer session in parliament. In an exchange with Labour leader Keir Starmer, who had said Ghey's mother was watching, Sunak said "defining a woman" was on a list of Starmer's broken promises, joking…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

UK PM Sunak “taken by surprise” by 1,000 pound Rwanda asylum bet

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that he was "taken by surprise" as he explained why he agreed to a 1,000 pound ($1,255) bet that his government would send asylum seekers to Rwanda before the next general election. The prime minister has faced criticism from opposition parties, who said the bet with the broadcaster Piers Morgan was distasteful and showed he was out of touch with the concerns of ordinary voters. Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive on England's southern coast in small, inflatable boats will be sent to Rwanda. On…

Feb

2024

By MICHAEL HOLDEN and SARAH YOUNG

King Charles’ cancer ‘caught early’, as Harry flies in to see him

WORLD

KING Charles' cancer was caught early and the whole country is hoping he can make a full recovery, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as messages of support for the 75-year-old monarch poured in from world leaders. Buckingham Palace revealed on Monday that Charles, on the throne for less than 18 months since the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth, was suffering from a "form of cancer" and would postpone his public engagements to undergo treatment. The king was remaining "wholly positive" and looking forward to returning to public work as soon as possible, the palace said. Charles' younger son…

Feb

2024

By LIN TAYLOR and NITA BHALLA

UK’s Rwanda plan: Which other nations send asylum seekers abroad?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a setback to his plans to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda after parliament's upper house backed a largely symbolic motion to delay ratification of a treaty aimed at overcoming a legal block. Sunak's "Safety of Rwanda" bill seeks to override a decision by the UK Supreme Court, which ruled last month that the East African country was an unsafe place to send asylum seekers, and the UK Supreme Court ruled last year that the East African nation was not a safe country to send people. Britain then signed a treaty with Rwanda, which it said addressed those…

Jan

2024

By MICHAEL HOLDEN

European court chief says UK must comply with any Rwanda injunctions

NEWS

THE president of Europe's Court of Human Rights said that Britain had a legal obligation to comply with its injunctions after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would ignore such orders over his plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda. Under the scheme, asylum seekers who reach England's southern coast in small boats would be sent to the East African nation. However, in June 2022, the ECHR issued a last-minute injunction - known as interim measures under Rule 39 - to prevent the first deportations. Last November, the UK Supreme Court also ruled that the policy was unlawful because of…

Dec

2023

By SUBAN ABDULLA and NATALIE THOMAS

Love or country: UK families caught up in Sunak’s plan to cut migration

WORLD

IN early December Rebecca Kaya was celebrating after she and her Kurdish husband Baran finally hit their savings goal to qualify for a British visa so the couple could move from Icmeler in Turkey to Britain. A few days later Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hiked the amount a British person must earn to sponsor a foreign partner to move to Britain - raising their fears that the savings threshold will also jump and their nest egg will not be enough. The new policy came days after official data put legal net migration to Britain at a record high of 745,000…

Dec

2023

By ANDREW MACASKILL, MICHAEL HOLDEN and KYLIE MACLELLAN

UK lawmakers in Sunak’s party say Rwanda bill not tough enough

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was scrambling to get enough support for his flagship immigration policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda after some lawmakers in his party said a planned emergency law was not tough enough. Sunak is facing a critical test of his authority with politicians on the right and the left of the Conservative Party threatening to vote against the bill when it goes before parliament on Tuesday. In a boost late on Monday, a centrist group of lawmakers in the One Nation faction recommended that its members back the bill but warned that they would not accept any…