James Cleverly has insisted the Government’s Rwanda Bill will not be killed by Tory rebels despite right-wing Conservative MPs saying they could vote the emergency legislation down unless it is strengthened.
The Home Secretary said he wants to continue to work with groups including the European Research Group (ERG) to “understand their thinking” following days of bitter division.
Dozens abstained but no Tories voted against the legislation with MPs approving the legislation at second reading by 313 to 269, giving the Government a majority of 44.
But the victory is temporary, with right-wing Tory factions making clear they reserve the right to vote against the draft law when it returns to the Commons next year unless amendments are made.
When it was put to him that right-wing factions, including the ERG chaired by Mark Francois, would vote the Bill down in the new year, the Home Secretary told Sky News: “That’s your assertion, I don’t agree.”
He added: “I will talk to Mark and I’ll talk to others, of course, to understand their thinking on this and try to harvest their ideas to make things better.
“But I can’t see if someone’s got a concern that the Bill might not be as strong as they would like, killing the Bill doesn’t strike me as the best way of doing that, because if the Bill isn’t on the statute books it can’t possibly succeed.”
“It is a third down already at a time when illegal arrivals are up across Europe.
“He is encouraged by the work we are doing and the impact it is having, but he won’t rest until we have got this working and the deterrent is there.”
She would not set out a timetable for when it would next be debated in the Commons amid suggestions it may not be tabled for its committee stage until mid-January, but insisted the PM still regards the situation as an “emergency”.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman, and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who resigned last week following publication of the Bill, were among the high-profile Tories to abstain on Tuesday, despite MPs being issued a three-line whip to vote in support of the Government.
Former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg were among those to back it.
A piece of government legislation has not failed to pass a second reading, the first Commons hurdle, since 1986.
The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts.
That’s what this Bill delivers.
We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) December 12, 2023
The legislation is designed to prevent migrants who arrive via unauthorised routes from legally challenging deportation to Rwanda after the Supreme Court ruled the flagship asylum policy unlawful.
It seeks to revive the stalled plan by enabling Parliament to deem the country safe in order to block claims against being sent to Kigali made on the basis that it is unsafe.
Ministers would be able to disapply the Human Rights Act but it does not go as far as overriding the European Convention on Human Rights, something which Tory hardliners have said is needed for the policy to be enacted.
The Home Office has paid £240 million to Kigali so far, with another payment of £50 million anticipated in 2024/25, but no flights have yet taken off.
Mr Cleverly insisted on Wednesday that the Government’s target of getting deportation journeys running by spring is still “credible” despite the Tory infighting, but conceded its passage through Parliament would take “some time”.
He highlighted the Prime Minister’s attempt to find a middle ground in the scope of the Bill, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it must be in the “Goldilocks zone” between resisting further legal challenge and complying with international law.
“It is really quite extraordinary that Rishi Sunak had to spend the weekend shoring up votes from his own party… they had to get Government ministers back from the Cop negotiations and goodness knows where else,” she told TalkTV on Wednesday.
“This is not a strong Government or a strong Prime Minister.”
Mr Francois announced ahead of the Commons vote that his group and four other right-wing factions – the self-described “five families” – would be abstaining, with a view to putting forward amendments early next year.
The other factions include the New Conservatives, Common Sense Group, Conservative Growth Group and Northern Research Group.
The ERG leader said Mr Sunak had told colleagues he is “prepared to entertain tightening the Bill” and that, if the Prime Minister does not accept changes to ensure that happens, then the five caucuses “reserve the right to vote against” the Government at the next stage.
A Tory rebel source told the PA news agency: “This Bill has been allowed to live another day.
“But, without amendments, it will be killed next month. It is now up to the Government to decide what it wants to do.”
The group’s lawyers also complained that the scope of the Bill to disapply elements of human rights law is “very narrow” and does not go far enough to address the risk of European judges blocking the plan.
The Government has said it will listen to changes suggested by MPs but has not committed to accepting amendments.
If all non-Conservative MPs oppose the plan, a revolt by 29 Tories could be enough to defeat the Safety of Rwanda Bill at its next test in Parliament.
After the forthcoming committee stage, there will be a third reading vote before the Bill is sent to the House of Lords, where it is expected to face heavy scrutiny.
Tory moderates urged Mr Sunak to stay the course and continue with the legislation as it is following his Commons victory.
MPs in the One Nation caucus agreed to back the Bill this week but have stressed that they will resist any amendments from the right that would risk the UK breaching the rule of law and its international obligations.
