Downing Street urges Tory rebels to ‘get behind’ Rwanda plan

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is braced for further Tory revolts over his Rwanda plan as Conservative MPs stepped up criticism of the legislation.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick is pushing changes aimed at overriding the Human Rights Act and explicitly stating that emergency injunctions from European judges can be ignored.

In an attempt to avert another damaging rebellion, the Government is considering giving advice to officials that they would not necessarily have to comply with the so-called “pyjama injunctions” from the European Court of Human Rights.

Allies of Mr Sunak have insisted there is only an “inch” between party colleagues, despite two deputy party chairmen and a ministerial aide quitting their posts to join a 60-strong Tory rebellion in the Commons on Tuesday night.

Further rebellions are expected on proposed amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill, but ministers hope Conservatives will pull back from the nuclear option of voting against the legislation as a whole at its final Commons hurdle on Wednesday night.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Tory party was “tearing itself apart, hundreds of bald men scrapping over a single broken comb”.

But the Prime Minister said: “I have absolute conviction that the plan we’ve put in place will work because I believe it is important that we grip this problem.”

Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson sought to play down the depth of Tory divisions in a message to party colleagues, saying: “We all want the same thing.”

“There are disagreements of emphasis. There’s an inch between us, there’s a determination to ensure that the policy works,” he told the BBC.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told broadcasters the party was having a “lively debate” on the matter.

Senior red wall MPs Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith resigned from their party positions to vote in favour of changes tabled by Sir Bill Cash and Mr Jenrick during the first day of detailed debate on the legislation on Tuesday.

Jane Stevenson also quit her role as a ministerial aide in the Department for Business and Trade to back the amendments, which MPs on the Tory right say will help protect the Rwanda plan from further legal challenge.

Former prime minister Liz Truss, former ministers Suella Braverman and Sir Simon Clarke and former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith were also among those to support the changes.

Downing Street hopes any revolt at the third reading stage will be kept to a minimum on Wednesday night.

No Conservatives voted against the Bill at second reading – despite similar warnings from the right of the party which had appeared to put it in jeopardy beforehand.

In a message to Tory MPs, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “We are unified in our position in wanting to stop the boats, so we encourage them all to get behind this Bill so we can get this deterrent up and running as quickly as possible.”

Even if the Rwanda plan does successfully pass the Commons, it is expected to face serious opposition within the House of Lords.

The role of the European Court of Human Rights has come under the spotlight during the Rwanda row, after a late-night order – nicknamed a pyjama injunction – grounded the first planned flight in 2022.

The Government wants to prevent the Strasbourg court using the measures, formally known as Rule 39 orders, from blocking further flights.

Downing Street said the Government would ensure there was “clarity” for ministers and officials about the orders, but said it was “not right” to say that the Government is seeking to rewrite the civil service code to ensure that.

Civil service unions have reacted with fury to the suggestion that officials could be required to ignore international law.

Asked whether there had been conversations with unions about the matter, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “I think it’s important to allow for… further guidance to be issued before forming a judgment on what it is we are or are not doing.”

Mr Jenrick, backed by dozens of Tory MPs, has put forward an amendment to make it the default position that Rule 39 indications from Strasbourg are not treated as binding on the UK.

Under the Government’s Rwanda plan, migrants who cross the English Channel on small boats could be sent on a one-way trip to Rwanda rather than being allowed to try to seek asylum in the UK.

The legislation, along with a recently signed treaty with Kigali, is aimed at ensuring the scheme is legally watertight following a Supreme Court ruling against it last year.

The stalled policy comes with a £290 million bill but no asylum seekers arriving via unauthorised routes have been relocated as yet following a series of challenges in the courts.

Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame said it was the “UK’s problem” not his country’s and suggested taxpayers’ money could be returned if there were no flights.

Meanwhile, migrants continued to cross the English Channel on Wednesday, with groups of people pictured being brought ashore by Border Force in Dover, Kent.