UK Government Considers Exemptions for Afghans in Rwanda Deportation Bill Amidst Ongoing Parliamentary Debate and Boris Johnson's Proposal Anniversary

Angela Rayner under investigation for council tax fraud claims and possible electoral offences
Des Browne, a former Labour defence secretary proposed an amendment securing significant majority in House of Lords
Government resisting offering concessions apart from annual report on impact of bill on victims of modern slavery and trafficking
Rishi Sunak plans to deploy RAF Voyager aircraft for deportations after Home Office failed to find charter flights
Rishi Sunak's government considering exemptions for Afghans in Rwanda deportation bill
UK Government Considers Exemptions for Afghans in Rwanda Deportation Bill Amidst Ongoing Parliamentary Debate and Boris Johnson's Proposal Anniversary

Rishi Sunak's government is considering exemptions to the Rwanda deportation bill for Afghans who served alongside UK forces. The amendment, put forward by Des Browne, a former Labour defence secretary, secured a significant majority in the House of Lords with peers backing it by 275 votes to 218. Ministers are also considering options on an Afghan exemption.

The Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill will return to the Commons at Wednesday lunchtime and is expected to move to the Lords hours later. The amendment by Lord Hope, a former head of the Scottish judiciary, requires Rwanda to pass an independent verification before it is considered safe.

The government has so far resisted offering any concessions apart from a minor proposal for an annual report on the impact of the bill on victims of modern slavery and trafficking. Parliamentary ping-pong between the Commons and the Lords could continue late into Wednesday night.

Rishi Sunak plans to deploy RAF Voyager aircraft to deport migrants to Rwanda after the Home Office failed to find an airline that would charter the flights. The government is set to activate a clause in a contract with AirTanker, an aviation services provider that leases a fleet of 14 Airbus A330 aircraft to the RAF, for repurposing the aircraft for 'specialist tasks'.

Angela Rayner is being investigated over council tax fraud claims and possible electoral offences by Greater Manchester Police. Around a dozen officers are assigned to the case, which concerns whether Ms Rayner claimed a single person's council tax discount on her former council house while allowing her brother to live there.

It has been two years since Boris Johnson first proposed sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for their claims to be processed. The government has spent £240m trying to get the scheme off the ground, argued and lost its case in the Supreme Court, and seen over 76,000 people arrive in the UK on small boats since 1 April 2022.


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Confidence

85%

Doubts
  • Is the government seriously considering an Afghan exemption?
  • What is the current status of the Rwanda deportation bill in Parliament?

Sources

98%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermine the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
(Site Conflicts Of Interest + Author Conflicts Of Interest) / 2.0 * 0.2 + ArticleBiasScore * 0.20 + UniquePointsScore * 0.05 + DeceptionScore * 0.20 + ReadabilityScore * 0.05 + FallacyScore * 0.20

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

Sunak considering exemptions to Rwanda bill for some Afghans

theguardian.com Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/13/ pakistan-·coalition-·agrees-to-form-government Rajeev Syal Wednesday, 17 April 2024 10:16
  • Unique Points
    • Rishi Sunak's government is considering exemptions to the Rwanda deportation bill for Afghans who served alongside UK forces.
    • The amendment enacting the Afghan exemption, put forward by Des Browne, a former Labour defence secretary, secured the biggest majority of 57 with peers backing it by 275 votes to 218.
  • Accuracy
    • , The amendment enacting the Afghan exemption, put forward by Des Browne, a former Labour defence secretary, secured the biggest majority of 57 with peers backing it by 275 votes to 218.
    • The contract allows repurposing of the aircraft for 'specialist tasks'.
  • Deception (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Fallacies (95%)
    The article contains some instances of appeals to authority and inflammatory rhetoric, but no formal or dichotomous fallacies are present. The author reports on the actions and statements of various parliamentary figures and ministers without making any false or misleading assertions. The article also includes several direct quotes from Rishi Sunak that accurately reflect his position on the issue.
    • ][Rishi Sunak]: My priority is to stop the boats. I said this very clearly when I became prime minister, and right now we are trying to get the bill through parliament in the face of enormous opposition from the Labour party.[/
  • Bias (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Site Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Author Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication

98%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermine the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
(Site Conflicts Of Interest + Author Conflicts Of Interest) / 2.0 * 0.2 + ArticleBiasScore * 0.20 + UniquePointsScore * 0.05 + DeceptionScore * 0.20 + ReadabilityScore * 0.05 + FallacyScore * 0.20

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

Leased RAF Voyagers set for Rwanda asylum seeker flights

The Times Matt Dathan, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 17:58
  • Unique Points
    • Rishi Sunak plans to deploy RAF Voyager aircraft for deporting migrants to Rwanda.
    • The government is set to activate a clause in a 2008 contract with AirTanker for repurposing the aircraft for 'specialist tasks'.
    • Downing Street has drawn up plans to order the MoD to activate the clause for at least one Voyager aircraft.
  • Accuracy
    • The government is set to activate a clause in a 2008 contract with AirTanker for at least one Voyager aircraft.
    • The scheme will cost £541 million if 300 asylum seekers are sent to east Africa.
  • Deception (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Fallacies (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Bias (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Site Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Author Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication

98%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermine the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
(Site Conflicts Of Interest + Author Conflicts Of Interest) / 2.0 * 0.2 + ArticleBiasScore * 0.20 + UniquePointsScore * 0.05 + DeceptionScore * 0.20 + ReadabilityScore * 0.05 + FallacyScore * 0.20

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

Politics latest news: Rwanda amendments rejected by MPs with Bill set to return to Lords

The Daily Telegraph Jack Maidment, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 00:00
  • Unique Points
    • Angela Rayner is being investigated over council tax fraud claims and possible electoral offences by police.
    • Around a dozen officers from Greater Manchester Police are assigned to the case.
    • The investigation concerns whether Angela Rayner claimed a single person’s council tax discount on her former council house while allowing her brother to live there.
  • Accuracy
    • , Angela Rayner claimed a single person’s council tax discount on her former council house while allowing her brother to live there.
    • Liz Truss expressed her desire for more support for Israel from the government and advocated a more pro-Israel policy in the past.
    • Truss had to actively intervene with officials to get them to vote in a more pro-Israel way at the United Nations.
    • Tom Harris notes that few of the speakers invited to attend the National Conservative conference in Brussels would be on an Islington dinner party guest list.
  • Deception (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Fallacies (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Bias (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Site Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication
  • Author Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
    None Found At Time Of Publication

73%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermine the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
(Site Conflicts Of Interest + Author Conflicts Of Interest) / 2.0 * 0.2 + ArticleBiasScore * 0.20 + UniquePointsScore * 0.05 + DeceptionScore * 0.20 + ReadabilityScore * 0.05 + FallacyScore * 0.20

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

A win on Rwanda will not automatically translate into victory for Rishi Sunak

Sky News Limited Beth Rigby Wednesday, 17 April 2024 18:05
  • Unique Points
    • It has been two years since Boris Johnson first proposed sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for their claims to be processed.
  • Accuracy
    • If the Safety of Rwanda Bill passes through both Houses of Parliament, it will be considered a victory for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has faced significant opposition from his own side and peers in the House of Lords.
    • The legislation will deem Rwanda a safe country and dispense sections of human rights laws. It will allow London to send asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the UK to Kigali.
    • The cost of the Rwanda scheme now stands at over £500 million.
  • Deception (30%)
    The article contains editorializing and selective reporting. The author expresses her opinion that the prime minister's win on Rwanda is not a guaranteed victory, implying doubt about the effectiveness of the policy. She also focuses on the costs of the scheme and quotes critics without providing equal counterarguments or context. This creates an imbalanced perspective.
    • Two million will get someone five trips to outer space on the Virgin Galactic spacecraft - Madam Deputy Speaker, you look impressed, and suitably so. I have calculated that someone could live for three decades on one of the world’s most expensive cruise liners…or they could even fly the prime minister’s favoured helicopter to Australia and back.
    • And even if he does manage to finally get a flight off the ground, can it be anything more than a symbolic victory when it comes to ‘stopping the boats’?
    • It will undoubtedly be a moment to savour should the bill finally pass.
    • Yes, the government has secured a new treaty to assuage some of the Court’s concerns, and passed laws to designate Rwanda safe. But getting the flights away is still not a given - and it may be in the coming weeks that the prime minister’s promise to ‘do whatever it takes’ to get those flights away by the spring (the end of May) is tested.
  • Fallacies (80%)
    The author makes several appeals to authority by quoting senior figures involved in the legislation and government officials. However, no formal or informal fallacies were found that would significantly impact the score.
    • ]We don't know yet whether it will pass through ping pong and get royal assent.[
  • Bias (80%)
    The author expresses a clear bias towards the government's Rwanda asylum seeker policy, repeatedly emphasizing the importance of the legislation passing and portraying it as a moment for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to savour. The author also implies that opposition to the policy is coming primarily from 'moderate Conservatives', implying a negative connotation towards this group.
    • For a start, boat crossings continue apace. Last Sunday saw the single biggest number of people - 534 - crossing the channel in boats in a single day this year.
      • It will, the prime minister insists, finally allow London to send asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the UK to Kigali.
        • Many in his own party are bemused as to why the prime minister made Rwanda his hill to die on.
          • Yes, the government has secured a new treaty to assuage some of the Court’s concerns, and passed laws to designate Rwanda safe.
          • Site Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
            None Found At Time Of Publication
          • Author Conflicts Of Interest (100%)
            None Found At Time Of Publication