DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Contemptuous Lords are asking for reform
Seeking a court’s permission to use a military airfield to house asylum seekers, the Home Office this week declared illegal immigration a ‘national emergency’.
With 56,000 migrants predicted to cross the Channel this year, joining countless thousands already living here at taxpayers’ expense, it’s about time the hapless department took the crisis seriously.
So the Mail is pleased Home Secretary Suella Braverman has heeded rebel Tory backbenchers and agreed to drastically harden up the Government’s Bill to curb the tide of small boats.
One amendment she has accepted gives ministers the power to override interim ‘Rule 39’ orders by the European Court of Human Rights in immigration cases.
This would effectively prevent meddling judges in Strasbourg from blocking deportation planes to Rwanda – returning control of migration laws to Britain.
With contemptuous disregard for the will of the people, the increasingly ludicrous House of Lords has vowed to scupper the new laws (Pictured: The state opening of Parliament in May 2022)
Mrs Braverman’s second important change means Channel migrants will no longer be able to exploit Labour’s Human Rights Act, via Britain’s indulgent judicial system, to avoid removal.
Predictably, Labour and the liberal Left are in a frightful lather. Passing legislation which allows ministers to ignore ECHR decisions is beyond the pale, they squeal.
Yet many countries in their beloved EU – including Germany – have overruled judgments. Why should we be different?
If the Rwanda policy succeeds, it will deter people from risking their lives – and enriching trafficking gangs – by crossing the busy sea lane in flimsy boats.
Even by attempting to solve the Channel crisis, Rishi Sunak will receive plaudits from a public which has voted repeatedly to tackle illegal immigration.
But with contemptuous disregard for the will of the people, the increasingly ludicrous House of Lords has vowed to scupper the new laws.
Remainer peers will inevitably claim they are merely carrying out their constitutional duty to scrutinise draft statutes. But as voters see all too clearly, the Upper House – over-represented by Labour and LibDem appointees – routinely sabotages the policies of the elected government.
No wonder there is resentment at this chamber – second only in size to the Chinese National People’s Congress (and, one is sometimes tempted to think, almost as Left-wing). Reform of the unelected Lords cannot come soon enough.
Raab’s fate in balance
Rihsi Sunak received the independent report into bullying claims against Dominic Raab at 9am yesterday.
Yet when the sun rose this morning, the Cabinet minister’s fate still hung in the balance.
How come? Either he did torment staff – and deserves sacking. Or he didn’t, in which case this unedifying farrago – played out obsessively on 24-hour TV – should cease.
Rihsi Sunak has received the independent report into bullying claims against Dominic Raab
The Justice Secretary insists he has always behaved professionally towards civil servants. And so far, the charges against him sound like idle Whitehall snowflakes (doubtless pro-Labour and Remain) confusing a tough boss, who demands high standards, with a tyrant.
No one wants to return to the haranguing excesses of 1970s workplaces.
But if every minister who asks staff to work hard faces anonymous mudslinging, Whitehall will be more dysfunctional than it already is.
What kind of person describes Conservatives MPs as worse than spineless, and crows: ‘Never trust a Tory.’ Could it be Labour’s crass deputy Angela Rayner or perhaps hard-Left union baron Mick Lynch?
No, it is incredibly the face of the BBC fact-checking.
Despite working for the supposedly neutral broadcaster, Oliver Bentley is a vigorous Labour activist.
But is it a surprise? The Corporation is so riddled with liberal bias, it probably considers him a paragon of impartiality.
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