ERG Chair Mark Francois Calls On The Government  To Pull The Rwanda Bill - video Dailymotion

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ERG Chair Mark Francois Calls On The Government  To Pull The Rwanda Bill

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00:00 who would like to ask the first question.

00:02 Just to be honest, the question is about whether or not you can vote for or against the funeral of Steyn.

00:09 What's the position at the moment?

00:11 Well, we discussed this for about, well, a good hour and a half, Beth.

00:17 And I'm not sure that final decisions will be taken even today

00:23 because of the importance of the issue.

00:27 But one thing that most of the members of that meeting I chaired were clear about

00:35 was, coming back to the bill overall provides a partial and incomplete solution,

00:42 the feeling very much in the meeting is that the government will be best advised to pull the bill

00:51 and to come up with a revised version that works better than this one, which has so many holes in it.

01:00 And as much as there was a consensus, Beth, that was the consensus.

01:05 But is this a bill that can be fixed by day one?

01:08 The only thing that's going to be torn up is not the plan and some of the sheet metal.

01:12 Right. I'll ask David in a moment to comment on that as well.

01:18 What the Starr Chamber have done in great detail is lay out...

01:24 [SIREN]

01:27 Sorry, just pausing for the Whips office there.

01:30 Hang on. They've laid out in great detail where they believe the weaknesses are.

01:37 It might be better to start again with a fresh bill that is written on a different basis.

01:45 But David's a member of the Starr Chamber.

01:47 I think that that's right. I don't think that the bill is easily amendable.

01:52 And really I think that the government needs to review it

01:55 and maybe consider a completely new piece of legislation

01:59 because this leaves so many gaps in the legislation

02:03 and so many ways that people could actually evade the legislation if they wanted to remain in this country.

02:08 OK. Please.

02:10 Can we assume that if there are no changes to the bill, that the bill will go to the General Assembly?

02:17 If I were you, I wouldn't assume anything until at least there's been a further meeting at 6pm this evening.

02:23 That's the logical assumption, isn't it?

02:28 We've, if you like, dropped the government a broad hint.

02:32 We'll see how the government reply.

02:34 Sorry, Beth, who hasn't had a go?

02:37 The government said before it got to Starr, it was about whether it was part of a re-election.

02:42 Is it really in the country that it is?

02:47 I mean, a part of it is still running out in the middle of the year,

02:50 so I'm not sure it's going to be any kind of a majority party.

02:54 Well, we all want to stop the boats.

02:59 There have been two legislative attempts at this already.

03:02 The Nationalities and Borders Act. That didn't quite work.

03:06 The Illegal Immigration Act. That didn't quite work.

03:10 So this is kind of three strikes and you're out, isn't it?

03:13 So what is really important is if we're going to put a bill through Parliament

03:18 to have a piece of legislation which is fit for purpose.

03:22 As the bill is currently drafted, it isn't.

03:26 Beth, do you want the last word?

03:29 [inaudible]

03:39 Beth, you're good at your job, but I'm not going to get into hypotheticals.

03:44 Let's for the moment just focus on the legislation.

03:47 [inaudible]

03:53 I think, Beth, you can ask the Prime Minister that one.

03:56 Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your time.

03:59 I say there will be a further meeting at 6 p.m. this evening.

04:02 Thank you very much for coming.

ERG Chair Mark Francois Calls On The Government To Pull The Rwanda Bill

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