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Rishi Sunak faces a showdown vote on his flagship Rwanda plan next week, as a Tory revolt on the issue grows.
The PM’s premiership has been rocked by the resignation of immigration minister Robert Jenrick, as he failed to appease the Tory right with his emergency Rwanda bill.
There is growing speculation that Mr Sunak will have to make next week’s vote a confidence issue in the government – threatening his MPs with expulsion if they defy him and help force a general election.
A tetchy Mr Sunak denied that he was ready to make it “back me or sack me” vote at his hastily convened press conference on the growing crisis on Thursday.
However, the embattled Tory leader appeared to appeal to Labour to help him push through his bill in parliament.
“The real question, when it comes to all these votes, if for the Labour Party,” Mr Sunak said: said. “So the real question when it comes to parliament … what are the Labour Party going to do about this vote?”
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live politics coverage as Rishi Sunak comes under fresh pressure over his Rwanda plan.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, quit last night in protest at a bill produced by No 10 which the prime minister said would get flights taking off the African country.
But Jenrick described the proposals as a “triumph of hope over experience”. Stay tuned for all the latest updates on this story and otherwise from Westminster and elsewhere.
Braverman: ‘Sorry truth’ is that new legislation ‘won’t work'
Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, has been speaking to broadcasters this morning after telling Rishi Sunak he faces “electoral oblivion” as she claimed his Rwanda plan was doomed to fail.
In an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Ms Braverman said the “sorry truth” is that new legislation to revive the strategy to stop small boats “won’t work”.
“There are elements that should be welcomed in this new bill that the prime minister has presented,” she said.
“But taken as a whole and looking at the reality of the challenges that are involved in detaining people, removing people and getting them to Rwanda – this is a very litigious field and there are lots of legal frameworks that apply – the reality is and the sorry truth is that it won’t work and it will not stop the boats.”
Suella Braverman was sacked as home secretary last month (Justin Tallis/PA)
Recap: What was in the bill?
Rishi Sunak made a desperate bid to head off a growing revolt among right-wing Conservatives over his failed Rwanda flights plan with new emergency legislation that defies human rights law.
Home secretary James Cleverly unveiled a bill in the Commons to “disapply” the UK Human Rights Act in a bid to stop British judges blocking the deportation of asylum seekers.
In fresh turmoil, the Rwandan government immediately responded to the move by warning that it could pull out of the deal if the UK fails to comply with international law.
ICYMI: Robert Jenrick’s resignation letter in full
In a scathing letter last night, Mr Jenrick described the government’s new Rwanda bill as a “triumph of hope over experience” as he quit as immigration minister.
He said he was refusing to be “yet another politician who makes promises on immigration to the British public but does not keep them.”
Read the resignation letter in full below:
Downing Street insists bill will prevent future legal challenges
Emergency legislation to deem Rwanda a safe destination has been published, as the Government bids to revive the flagship asylum policy following last month’s Supreme Court defeat.
The Bill is set to be rushed through the Commons and comes after Home Secretary James Cleverly signed a new treaty in Kigali amid efforts to remedy the concerns of the UK’s highest court.
Dominic McGrath reports:
Braverman denies ‘spreading poison’ to oust Sunak as she’s challenged over attack on Rwanda plan
As we’ve been reporting, Suella Braverman has been speaking to Radio 4 this morning about the Rwanda draft law.
Full story and audio of the exchange below:
Robert Jenrick’s resignation is ‘not that big a story’, Tory minister claims
A Tory minister has sought to downplay Robert Jenrick’s resignation, claiming it is “not as big a story as is being made”, Archie Mitchell reports.
Chris Heaton-Harris told LBC: “I don’t like anybody resigning from my party, but when I was Boris Johnson’s chief whip... Pretty much everyone did.
“Maybe I have a scale of proportion that others don’t have.” He added: “I don’t think it is as big a story as is being made”.
Listen to more of his interview here:
Heaton-Harris: Rwanda bill will pass Commons
Rishi Sunak’s draft law to fix the Rwanda plan will pass a vote in the Commons next week, a cabinet minister has insisted.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary and a former Tory whip, said the government has enough support to get the bill through the lower chamber.
It comes as the prime minister attempts to shore up his position and secure support for the plan after Robert Jenrick quit amid fears of a wider rebellion and Tory rightwingers.
The bill is due before parliament today and will be voted on next week and Tory moderates have warned they will not vote for it if there is any chance that it breaks international law.
More comments from Mr Heaton-Harris below:
Tory moderate suggests he may not back bill – says Rwanda ‘ripping’ party apart
Senior moderate Tobias Ellwood told Times Radio that he will not support the Rwanda bill if there is “any prospect” of breaking the international laws the UK itself helped craft, Adam Forrest reports.
Mr Ellwood said the row over Rwanda was “ripping our party in half”. He said: “Rwanda has become almost totemic, if you like, that hill that we have to die on.”
The senior Tory added: “If this infighting continues, it will not just cost us the next general election, it will see our party splinter into two between the centre right and the far right.”
Warning that some moderates may not back the bill, Mr Ellwood said: “We helped craft the ECHR. We were the ones that crafted most of the laws, international laws after the Second World War. We uphold international law. We don’t break it.”
Conservative MP and chair of the defence select committee Tobias Ellwood (Dominic Lipinski/ PA)
Braverman: No one is talking about leadership challenege
Some more comments now from Suella Braverman’s interview with Radio 4 earlier this morning.
The former home secretary, sacked in a cabinet reshuffle last month, insisted that none of her colleagues were talking about a leadership challenge to Rishi Sunak after she denied trying to oust him by spreading “poison” within the party.
“No one’s talking about leadership, or changing leadership,” she insisted, adding that she was fully behind Mr Sunak if he could fix the Rwanda deal.
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2023-12-08 06:26:42Z
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