Sunak Celebrates as Rwanda Bill Passes
On Monday the 22nd, the House of Lords passed the Rwanda bill, which will deport 2,200 illegal migrants to Rwanda. Previously, the bill was being sent back and forth between the Commons and the Lords.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has worked on this bill since his ascension to power in 2022, which was agreed with Rwanda in July 2022 under his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
The bill will act as a deterrent to migrants coming to the UK. Illegal migrants must come through multiple safe countries, like France, to reach the UK.
The Bill has already diverted some migrants from coming to the UK and instead going to Ireland with a 16-year high in the number of migrants coming to Ireland. Likely, Ireland will now propose a similar immigration law as it will start affecting the population even more.
Most migrants are young men who are coming to the UK for better jobs. The number of hotels housing migrants had decreased from 398 in October 2023, to 267 in April 2024.
Sunak increases defence budget to $85 Billion
On Wednesday the 24th, Rishi Sunak pledges to increase defense spending to 2.5% by 2030. Current defense spending is 2.3%. This would increase the defense budget to £87 Billion by 2030. NATO aid to Ukraine shows how fast they were drained of ammunition and weapons.
£10 Billion will be used to increase munitions stockpiles. Compared to other countries in Nato, the UK spent 2.07% of its GDP in 2022. This is just above the NATO threshold of 2%.
Multiple European powers like Italy, France, Spain, and Germany were not contributing enough to NATO. A budget of 2.5% would put us on the higher end of contributors with Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and the US. Poland contributed 3.9% of its GDP to defence which was the highest in the alliance, in 2022.
$61 Billion sent to Ukraine
On Tuesday the 23rd, the House of Representatives passed the $61 Billion Ukraine aid bill. This would send much-needed ammunition, weapons systems, and other general military equipment to Ukraine.
Despite the bill passing, and temporarily eliminating Ukraine’s problem of ammunition, they have a major shortage of fighting-age men.
Russia is currently training 200,000 soldiers for their summer offensive. Russian forces have been pushing the entirety of the front line, with the next military goal being to reach Pokhrovsk.
Ukraine faces a lack of healthy men with most of their platoons being short of soldiers. As a result, healthy men in non-front-line positions will be moved there. They will be replaced by women in noncombat positions.
Included in the bill was $26 Billion to Israel and $8 Billion to Taiwan to replenish their munition stockpiles and missile systems. Aid is due to arrive on the weekend or early next week in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
Hamza Yousaf faces no confidence vote
Hamza Yousaf, Scotland’s First Minister, is facing a no-confidence vote. He is leading a minority government after two pro-independence parties controlled a majority of the seats in the Scottish Parliament.
Hamza Yousaf led a minority government with the Scottish National Party holding less than 50%, but to compensate for this, they had a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens.
Hamza Yousaf’s future as first minister is looking uncertain after the breakdown of the deal between the two parties on Thursday.
Scottish Labour intends to hold a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Government, which if successful may trigger an election.
If the no-confidence vote passes, then the government has 28 days to find and elect a new first minister. If they do not pass and vote a new first minister into power, then it will trigger a national election.
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Cover Image – sourced from Sky News
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