From 34m agoKey events7m agoMany lawyers in Lords will view Rwanda bill as ‘step too far’, says leading crossbench peer Lord Carlile34m agoRishi Sunak to hold press conference after Rwanda bill clears CommonsFilters BETAKey events (2)Rishi Sunak (3)7m ago04.33 ESTMany lawyers in Lords will view Rwanda bill as ‘step too far’, says leading crossbench peer Lord Carlile
But Rishi Sunak got a taste of what might happen when the Rwanda bill arrives in the Lords when Lord Carlile, a former Lib Dem MP who sits as a crossbench peer and who is a former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, was interviewed on the Today programme this morning.
He said that, in using the bill to in effect overrule the supreme court, the government was taking “a step towards totalitarianism”. And he said many of the lawyers sitting in the Lords would view the bill as “a step too far”.
He told the programme:
Many of us in the House of Lords believe that … good policymaking and the integrity of our legal system are under attack because of internal political quarrelling in the Conservative party …
What we are doing is trying to countermand meddling by politicians in the law.
It’s been government elevating itself to an unacceptable level above the law, above our much-admired supreme court, and above the reputation internationally of the United Kingdom law.
We’ve seen in various countries the damage that is done when governments use perceived and often ill-judged political imperatives to place themselves above the courts – this is a step towards totalitarianism and an attitude that the United Kingdom usually deprecates.
I think you’ll find that many of lawyers in the House of Lords will say this is a step too far, this is illegitimate interference by politics with the law, on an issue that can be solved in other ways.
17m ago04.23 EST
In an interview with LBC, Chris Philp, the Home Office minister, claimed that Rishi Sunak was in a better position in the light of the Rwanda bill getting a third reading. Asked if Sunak was “stronger or weaker” after the passing of the bill but the departure of two Tory deputy chairs and a ministerial aide, Philp replied:
I think, to the extent it has any impact on that, probably stronger.
Updated at 04.39 EST34m ago04.06 ESTRishi Sunak to hold press conference after Rwanda bill clears Commons
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is holding a press conference this morning. A note alerting political journalists was sent out by No 10 relatively late last night and, as will be the case every time we get a surprise announcement like this in 2024, one kneejerk lobby response was, ‘Is he going to call an election?’ The answer is no. The best evidence for this is probably the latest YouGov polling in the Times today, showing Labour 27 points ahead (but the steer from No 10 says the same).
Labour lead up to 27 points in latest YouGov poll for The Times
CON 20 (-2)
LAB 47 (+2)
LIB DEM 8 (-1)
REF UK 12 (+2)
GREEN 7 (-1) …
2024-01-18 04:23:34
Source from www.theguardian.com