Stop the boats? How Andrew Marr would tackle the migrant crisis

29 June 2023, 18:15 | Updated: 29 June 2023, 18:19

Tonight with Andrew Marr

Andrew Marr takes a forensic look at the ethics and politics behind the "stop the boats" policy Rishi Sunak is championing.

"Stop the Boats. The big story tonight is about democracy, law, morality and raw politics as well," he said on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr.

"Let's start with democracy. According to the polls the Rwandan policy is relatively popular: 46% of people in the last poll I saw supported it, against 27% who opposed it.

"By the way, nearly half, 48% also said it wouldn't work, proving we are, how can I put this, a complicated lot. Last night the policy has been stopped in its tracks by amendments in the House of Lords, the unelected chamber of course, and today by the High Court who decided that the policy is unlawful since refugees sent to Rwanda wouldn’t be safe because they could be sent back to where they’d fled from.

"It was only a two to one decision and the prime minister Rishi Sunak said straight away he'd try to appeal.

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But the judges after four days of intense argument insisted they hadn't been being political but purely looking at the law.

"And whatever the state of opinion polls, we do live in a complex democracy of countervailing forces, in which the courts have always played a role in restraining politicians.

"Then there's the House of Lords where, late last night, peers inflicted a series of defeats on the bill which would put the Rwanda policy into effect.

"Particularly damaging was an amendment from the Labour peer and civil rights lawyer Shami Chakrabarti insisting the government abide by international obligations including the 1951 Geneva refugee convention - which might seem innocuous, but which ministers insist this was a wrecking amendment.

"Rishi Sunak made "stop the boats" central to his five-point plan for the country. But, so far, not very much - not a new deal with the French, nor a promise to speed up asylum claims - has dramatically cut the numbers of people crossing the Channel.

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"So the threat of being sent to Rwanda seems central to his hopes of redeeming that pledge of stopping the boats. It wasn't in the last Tory election manifesto, mind you which in 2019 promised to bring in refugees, and I quote, “make the immigration system more fair and compassionate”.

"But for some on the right, the combination of unelected peers and judges preventing this policy from going ahead isn’t an embarrassment; it’s a golden opportunity.

"Rather than admit failure on the boats policy ahead of an election the government can now simply blame lefty liberal lawyers, the metropolitan elite, the blob, for frustrating the will of the people.

"But let's turn finally to the morality of this, because at its heart today’s isn't really a story about legal judgements or polling or votes in the Lords, still less election tactics. It's about actual human beings, not numbers, people as real as you and me, who have made their way here and want to stay.

"Should we let in everyone? No. Should we build a system that is able, quickly and fairly, to assess which asylum seekers are genuinely in danger, while we continue to work with our neighbours to stop people coming across the Channel? For sure.

"That's a hard, slow slog. That won't shift votes. But I want to end on a note of guarded optimism. In a complicated, stroppy democracy like ours, when something big, unusual, and controversial is proposed by any government, it's right that it’s questioned and challenged - that it isn't just idly waved through. And behind the headlines, that is exactly what's happening right now."