Lord Ken Clarke, the former Conservative cabinet minister, has issued a stark warning that the UK is “hurtling towards an elected dictatorship” under Rishi Sunak’s government.
According to a report by Express, His comments came during a heated House of Lords debate on Monday over controversial legislation to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing.
The Rwanda asylum plan has proven hugely divisive, both within the Conservative party and more widely across British politics. Mr Clarke, who served as Home Secretary, Health Secretary, Education Secretary and Chancellor during his decades in government, unleashed a blistering attack on the policy. He accused Mr Sunak’s administration of undermining basic democratic norms and riding roughshod over parliamentary scrutiny.
“As time goes by in my career, I always fear echoes of the warnings that Quintin Hailsham used to give us all about the risks of moving towards an elected dictatorship,” Mr Clarke told peers. He said the sovereignty of parliament “has its limits” and should not be used by the government to force through measures without proper debate or consensus.
Mr Clarke took particular aim at Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who he accused of displaying “aggression and bad temper” in her approach to immigration policy. He said her stance fails to grasp the complexity of the asylum issue and the need for compassion.
The Rwanda scheme is intended to deter migrants from making dangerous Channel crossings in small boats. But Mr Clarke dismissed the plans as a “completely useless deterrent” that fails to tackle the root causes of migration. He said the policy “has nothing to do with the real world” and the “practical problems” around asylum.
In the Commons last week, Ms Braverman clashed angrily with MPs over the legislation, accusing critics of the Rwanda policy of being “out of touch”. But Mr Clarke said it was the Home Secretary who lacked knowledge and experience of the situation.
He highlighted the fact she has never visited Rwanda or spoken to officials there about conditions for asylum seekers. “I do not think she has the experience to assert that Rwanda is safe,” Mr Clarke said. He raised concerns about human rights abuses in the country under its authoritarian government.
The former Chancellor’s intervention underscores the level of disquiet about the Rwanda scheme among senior Tories. Mr Clarke said that while the government insists it has an electoral mandate to control borders, “the sovereignty of parliament has its limits” when it comes to ignoring widespread opposition.
He warned that without meaningful parliamentary scrutiny and consensus, Britain risks sliding into an “elected dictatorship” under Mr Sunak’s premiership. His comments indicate the legislation could face a rough ride through the House of Lords, even with the government’s 80-strong majority in the Commons.
