Illegal Migration Bill passes Commons despite united opposition

While the Illegal Migration Bill secured sufficient votes to pass its remaining stage in the House of Commons on Wednesday (26 April), the vote count was tighter than might have been expected, at 289 to 230. This owed to all opposition parties unanimously voting ‘no’, and an absence of 67 Conservative MPs

The report stage saw the government table an amendment which will allow it to ignore an interim measure from the European Court of Human Rights – a key demand from MPs on the right of the Conservative party, who have been campaigning for the UK to adhere less strictly to Strasbourg’s jurisprudence.

MPs on both sides of the House were concerned about the amendment, with Joanna Cherry, chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, stating that it “effectively introduces a presumption that the UK government will breach international law when interim measures are handed down by the court in Strasbourg”.

Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Cox said that the amendment was “in effect asking the House to give legislative sanction to at least the possibility that a minister of the Crown will deliberately disobey this country’s international law obligations”. He was joined by fellow Conservative MP David Simmonds, who said “it does seem to me concerning that the bill envisages that the only circumstances in which such an interim measure would be relevant is where the home secretary considers it to be so. The default position is that we will always ignore our international law commitments unless we choose to follow them”.

Members on both sides of the House were also disappointed by the government’s lack of serious consideration on how the bill might affect victims of modern slavery or people trafficking. Former prime minister Theresa May stated that the government’s provisions do not go nearly far enough in their support for victims.