DUP warns against creating ‘immigration sea border’ through Rwanda Bill

The party’s home affairs spokesperson Gavin Robinson warned the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill risks not applying to Northern Ireland and creating a “fracture” in immigration policy between two parts of the United Kingdom.

The DUP has raised concerns that the Bill will not apply in Northern Ireland because of the continued role of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights’ role in the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Robinson told the Commons: “Heavens knows we’ve had enough difficulty around the creation of a trade border in the Irish Sea that we are having to deal with, that we cannot casually and mistakenly or through misplaced hope, walk ourselves into the creation of an immigration sea border in the Irish Sea because Government fails to accept the strength of feeling on this issue, the cause for concern surrounding it, the legal and judicial opinion that has been given that leans into it.

“This is our opportunity to put it right.”

A DUP amendment to the Bill seeks to clarify that the Bill applies to Northern Ireland notwithstanding the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

Mr Robinson told MPs: “We do have concerns about the operability of this Bill in light of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and the legislative framework that surrounds that relationship.”

He added: “This amendment proposed by us… is important from a principle perspective as a unionist, from a practical perspective as a member of this Parliament who believes that our immigration policy applies equally across the United Kingdom.

“It always has applied equally across the United Kingdom, and the concern is the Government is blindly ignoring our concerns and allowing a situation to develop that will cause a fracture in the immigration policy which up until this point has applied equally across the United Kingdom.”

He told the Government: “Choose to ignore us at this point, choose to dismiss the concerns that have been raised, and ultimately leave it to the courts to decide… or take the very simple step on immigration grounds alone to disapply… section 7A of the Withdrawal Agreement.”

Conservative former minister Sir Robert Buckland, who chairs the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, told the Commons: “We can’t ignore the Northern Ireland dimension on this, we just can’t.”

Responding to Mr Robinson, Sir Robert said: “I think he is right to sound the alarm bells to make sure that inadvertently we do not end up in a position where our immigration law is divided or complicated by… the EU law factor, which undeniably is an issue with regard to the law of Northern Ireland.”

Sir Robert said he hoped the House of Lords could revisit the issue when it scrutinises the Bill.

The MPs’ concerns were raised as the Rwanda Bill was considered in a committee of the whole House in the Commons.

The Government has previously said the Bill would apply “in full” to Northern Ireland in the same way as it does across the rest of the UK.

Immigration minister Michael Tomlinson told the Commons: “Nothing in the Windsor Framework, including Article 2 or the Withdrawal Agreement, affects the Bill’s proper operation on a UK-wide basis.”