In the U.K., Sunak's Rwanda Migration Bill Survives Its First Vote, But Divisions Remain

While the U.K. government has survived a first vote on its controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda, the proposed bill will remain a divisive issue within the ruling Conservative Party in 2024, likely resulting in political turbulence and persistent questions about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's future. Sunak weathered an internal rebellion within his Conservative party over his flagship migration policy on Dec. 12, with a majority of lawmakers backing in principle the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) bill in its second reading in the lower house of the U.K. Parliament. The bill, the government's emergency legislation to save a divisive plan to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda, passed with a majority of 44 in the House of Commons despite 37 Conservative lawmakers abstaining, of which at least 29 are believed to have deliberately refused to back the bill. None of them, however, voted against the proposed legislation, as...