The government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has caused a lot of controversy and faced delays as legal challenges stand in the way of its launch. In November, as summarised by the BBC, ‘the UK Supreme Court ruled that the scheme was unlawful because of the risk that asylum seekers sent to Rwanda could be returned to their home countries, where they could face harm’. Now, immigration minister Robert Jenrick has resigned over the plan. Here’s why he stood down, and how much he was making in his role as Minister of State.
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Why Robert Jenrick resigned
So far, no asylum seekers have been sent to Rwanda. Jenrick, who had been a supporter of Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign, said the government’s emergency legislation on the issue ‘does not go far enough’. He resigned yesterday, on Wednesday 6 December, because he believes that ‘stronger protections’ are needed to put an end to ‘the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme’.
In his resignation letter, Jenrick recognised that the Prime Minister had ‘moved towards’ his position but stated:
Nevertheless, I am unable to take the currently proposed legislation through the Commons as I do not believe it provides us with the best possible chance of success.
He called the current bill ‘a triumph of hope over experience’.
Robert Jenrick’s career and salary
Jenrick was a solicitor before he entered the world of politics. He became the Conservative MP for Newark in 2014; a position he has held continuously ever since. He became housing secretary under then-PM Boris Johnson, whose career has recently taken an unexpected turn. Jenrick also briefly served as a junior health minister in Liz Truss’ short-lived government before becoming Minister of State in October 2022.
As an MP, he earns the basic annual salary of £86,584 which was set in April 2023. On top of this, he was earning £34,742 as Minister of State - though he will now be waving goodbye to this as he steps down from the role. This means that up until his resignation, Jenrick was earning a whopping yearly income of £121,326.
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⋙ James Cleverly replaces Suella Braverman as Home Secretary: Everything you need to know about him
⋙ Rishi Sunak, King Charles and David Cameron are in hot water over Cop28 hypocrisy
Sources used:
BBC: Robert Jenrick resigns as immigration minister over Rwanda legislation
BBC: What is the UK's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda?
GOV.UK: Salaries of members of His Majesty's Government: April 2022 (HTML)
