The Rwanda plan is the only one available to stop people traffickers

Nearly 700 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats last Friday, the largest daily number this year; and the total for the month of June is the highest since records began. This is happening despite the Prime Minister’s pledge to end the traffic, but he is being thwarted at every turn. The aim of the Illegal Migration Bill is to deter would-be asylum seekers making the perilous voyage, but it is being cut to pieces in the House of Lords. The Government has suffered a series of defeats by peers, who have voted to limit the time children and pregnant women can be detained, and backed preventing those claiming to be gay being deported to a country where they might face discrimination. And the courts have recently decreed that Rwanda, where the Home Office wants to send some migrants, is unsafe, as there is no guarantee they would not then be sent back to the country they originally came from.

The political uncertainty the peers are causing is arguably the reason why, along with benign weather in the Channel, the number of arrivals has shot up. Traffickers know that if they are to maximise their profits, they need to exploit this failure to get any legal grounding to the Rwanda policy. Only if there is a realistic expectation that the removals will go ahead will the numbers start to decline. Peers consistently voting against this policy guarantee that the journeys will continue, at great risk to the migrants, many of whom are women and children.

This week, the Commons will vote to overturn the Lords’ objections and, in a process known as parliamentary ping-pong, the Bill will then go back to the Lords. Opponents need to stop their sanctimonious hand-wringing and agree to back the only policy in play likely to stop this dreadful and dangerous traffic.