Rishi Sunak gives way to rebels over child migrants

Prime Minister to amend language of small boats Bill to ensure greater protection for under 18s, but still faces number of other challenges

Rishi Sunak has backed down over the detention of unaccompanied child migrants in an attempt to see off a rebellion over his small boats Bill.

The Government has moved to amend its illegal migration Bill to ensure that unaccompanied children will only be detained in “exceptional circumstances” with time limits set out in regulations. Ministers have also sought to reassure rebels the children will only be deported in “very limited circumstances” such as for family reunion.

However, the moves appear to have failed to satisfy the rebels who will meet on Monday to decide whether to force a vote when the illegal migration Bill returns to the Commons for its report stage on Wednesday.

Similar rebellions are also growing over the proposed crackdown on modern slavery claims, led by former Tory leaders Theresa May and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, and over new powers for Suella Braverman to ignore injunctions by Strasbourg judges.

The Bill will give her powers to detain nearly all migrants who arrive illegally and swiftly remove them to their home country or a safe third nation such as Rwanda.

Series of concessions

The Home Secretary has been forced to offer a series of concessions in an attempt to keep both the Left and Right of the party on board. 

However, at least 15 Tory MPs led by former minister Tim Loughton want the Government to go further and enshrine time limits on detention for unaccompanied child migrants in law, rather than leave it to regulations. They also want a guarantee that judges will sign off any extension of detention.

“They need to make it clear on the face of the Bill that children are treated differently to adults and any extension to detention limits needs to be sanctioned by the courts,” said Mr Loughton. It would limit detention to the current 24 hours and is backed by former ministers Sir Robert Buckland and Caroline Nokes.

The MPs are also pushing for amendments that would bar the removal of unaccompanied migrants before they turn 18 and place curbs on their deportation after 18 unless welfare checks showed they had a safe home to go to abroad.

A report by the Refugee Council to be published on Monday claims the legislation could lead to 15,000 migrant children being detained and barred from living in Britain over the next three years.

Modern slavery also a flashpoint

Meanwhile, Mrs May and Sir Iain are pushing to exempt migrants who are victims of modern slavery in the UK from the legislation. Their amendment has been backed by Damian Green, Mrs May's former deputy, former justice secretary Sir Robert and Mr Loughton.

Mrs May warned MPs last month that the Bill would “drive a coach and horses” through the Modern Slavery Act, which she introduced, so “denying support to those who have been exploited and enslaved, and in doing so making it much harder to catch and stop the traffickers and slave drivers”.

The amendments are expected to be backed by Labour, which would mean that if a further 15-20 Tory MPs join the rebels, they could overturn the Prime Minister’s current majority of 64.

Senior Tories have also warned that they will not support the Bill in its current form if it leads to the Home Secretary ignoring so-called clause 39 orders from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). At the weekend Mrs Braverman said the power to disregard them was “crucial” following their use to block the first deportation flight to Rwanda last Summer.

'Against Tory traditions'

Sir Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons Justice Committee, told Times Radio: “I don’t think it is right for us to be saying that we will ignore rules of the ECHR, even the interim measures.

“I don't want to get to a situation where people are saying, well, the only solution is to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and the courts, because that would go wholly against the whole traditions of the Conservative Party.”

Sir Robert said the move “set up an unnecessary scrap with Strasbourg judges”.

It comes as the Government is set to begin its legal defence of the Rwanda policy in the Court of Appeal on Monday.

The policy has previously been ruled lawful in the High Court, but bodies including the charities Detention Action and Care4Calais were given permission to appeal that ruling.

A Home Office spokesman said the Government was amending the Bill to make clear the power to remove under 18s would “only be exercised in very limited circumstances, such as for the purposes of family reunion or removing someone to their safe home country”.

They added: “A further amendment will address concerns about the detention of unaccompanied children by making clear that an unaccompanied child can only be detained in exceptional circumstances, with specific time limits, as set out in regulations.”

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