Let’s get straight to the headline. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill has now passed its third reading by 320 votes to 276.
Those of you who read my weekly tirades will know that I support the principle of Rishi’s Rwanda bill. This reading, however, was plagued by rebellions and further criticism. So this week my challenge is to explain why the critics are wrong.
Let’s start with Lee Anderson. He resigned as Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party in opposition to the bill. Naturally, the press jumped on this news and claimed it was a huge loss for the Tories. It really isn’t.
Lee Anderson is a man who would support the return of the death penalty. He suggested people struggling in the cost of living crisis should learn how to budget properly because you can make a meal for 30p a day. I don’t know where he’s shopping, but you couldn’t even make a 30p meal if you scavenged food from a bin. And finally, he hinted that people on council estates should be forced to live in tents.
This is not the sort of man I would want as the Deputy Chair of my party. Consequently, Lee Anderson’s resignation has literally zero relevance whatsoever. The only relevance it does have is providing a big win for Rishi Sunak and all Conservative Party members, who no longer have to defend Anderson’s reckless statements.
Now let’s move onto Jeremy Corbyn. The Trident-bashing Marxist has kept himself out of the spotlight ever since he got battered by Boris in the 2019 general election. However, he certainly said his penny’s worth during the debate on the bill. According to Corbyn, the bill blames victims which goes against our obligation to provide a place of safety.
I will happily admit that I don’t want to see refugees fleeing a war-torn country left with nowhere to go. But the problem is that the UK’s immigration crisis is not because of refugees fleeing a war-torn country. As of November 2022, the UK was home to over 230,000 refugees. Now guess how many immigrants we have in total in the UK? In June 2022, it was 10,388,000. This means Corbyn is basing his entire argument against the bill on 2% of the UK’s immigrants.
What a weak argument from the champagne communist. Refugee immigration is not the problem here – it’s people coming to the UK to take our NHS and benefits system for a ride. And that’s not even to mention the cost to put asylum seekers in a Premier Inn – which amounts to £8 million a day. So Jeremy Corbyn would rather house immigrants and give them all our tax money than direct that money towards actual UK citizens who are contributing to our country. We don’t need a doctor’s note to confirm Corbyn’s lost his marbles.
Finally, let’s look at Tim Farron. This is almost a pointless exercise because an ex-Liberal Democrat leader is hardly a high-profile figure. However, for the sake of political neutrality, a Lib Dem point of view is required to complete the set.
Farron’s contribution to the debate was to reinforce what everyone hates about Liberal Democrats – they don’t know what they stand for. One minute, Farron is saying the bill is too weak to act as a deterrent, suggesting he wants tougher immigration laws. Yet the next minute, he’s saying the government is demonising vulnerable people, suggesting he wants to welcome immigrants with a cup of tea and a McVitie’s digestive biscuit.
And this classic case of Lib Dem flip flopping brings me nicely onto the key fact here, which is this. Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives actually have a plan for immigration. As I have argued countless times, when it comes to immigration – and virtually everything else – Keir Starmer is as clueless as a blindfolded hen. And, quite frankly, whatever their egos tell them, all the other parties are irrelevant because they have no chance of winning the keys to Downing Street.
Labour keep saying they’re going to ‘smash the gangs’. This is no different to me flippantly claiming I’m going to be Prime Minister one day. Unless there is a plan to back up what is a substantially bold claim, it may as well be meaningless. Just for the record, I know I have more of a plan to become Prime Minister than Keir Starmer, who doesn’t even know what he stands for.
So rather than the Rwanda bill showing how weak Sunak is – as Labour and the Lib Dems have claimed – it is actually a testament to his strength that he continues to fight off Tory rebellions from power-hungry hopefuls. It also continues to highlight just how clueless every other party is when it comes to immigration – from the lazy ‘just let it be’ lefties to the crazy ‘shoot the dinghies’ Farages. (To cover myself, Farage has not said he would shoot the dinghies – at least not in public – but this just represents his right-wing extremism).
Let’s summarise. Lee Anderson resigned over the Rwanda bill – whoop whoop. That’s one less headache for Rishi. Jeremy Corbyn would rather open up the UK to migrants than help our own British citizens. And Tim Farron and the Liberal Democrats are as clueless as ever.
Far from being a weak showing for Sunak, this is perhaps one of his strongest days in office. Not only did he pass the Rwanda bill, all his opponents just keep on scoring own goals.
Image: UK Prime Minister
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