Theresa May spoke scathingly of the migration bill yesterday in the House of Commons as MPs voted on the recommendations the House of Lords made to amend the bill.
She was a part of 12 Tory backbenchers who rebelled against the party on the vote. The group also included former children’s minister Tim Loughton.
He emphasised his distress that the assurances that were made “have not materialised”.
Other MPs who explained that they had difficulty seeing “how this bill would operate in the real world”.
Theresa May accused the government of stopping victims from being able to claim the modern slavery bill.
In a speech in the commons, she said “This bill is not just written to stop the boats, it covers all illegal migration and its unwritten subtext is the stop certain victims’ claims of modern slavery bill.
“Not stop false claims of modern slavery, but stop all claims full stop and that is where I depart from the government.”
The fact that there were so many proposals from the House of Lords is interesting in itself, and demonstrates why the bill should not be ignored.
All amendments were voted against being made. However, Theresa May and her band of tory rebels voted to keep the proposals made by the Lords on unaccompanied children, safe and legal routes and modern slavery protections.
May said she would have to “persist in disagreeing with parliament” and members of the public seem to agree.
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