- By Kate Whannel
- Political Reporter, BBC News
January 17, 2024
Updated 36 minutes ago
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Rishi Sunak's fight over the Rwanda plan is not over yet
Rishi Sunak has managed to get his key Rwanda bill through the House of Commons after failing to secure a Conservative revolt.
The bill, which aims to prevent legal challenges to ministers' plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, was approved by 320 votes to 276.
Dozens of Tories thought the bill was flawed and threatened a rebellion, but in the end only 11 voted against it.
The bill now goes to the House of Lords, where it will face strong opposition.
Mr Sunak argues that deporting some asylum seekers to Rwanda would act as a deterrent to migrants trying to reach Britain in small boats across the English Channel, but Labor described the plan as an expensive “gimmick”.
The government hopes to have flights to Rwanda operational by spring.
The Prime Minister is expected to hold a Downing Street press conference on the policy at 10:15 GMT.
Over the past two days, MPs from the right wing of the Conservative Party have tried to amend the bill, arguing that without changes the government's Rwanda plan could be blocked by the courts.
On Wednesday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick tabled an amendment that would allow the British government to ignore parts of human rights law relating to sending people to Rwanda.
Mr Jenrick also proposed an amendment that would ensure ministers automatically reject last-minute injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights.
The amendment was not approved by MPs but received the support of 61 Conservatives – the biggest rebellion of Mr Sunak's time in office.
Some MPs had indicated that they would be prepared to abstain or even vote against the entire bill if it remained unchanged.
The bill could have failed if around 30 Conservatives had voted against it – an outcome that would have seriously, perhaps fatally, damaged the prime minister's authority.
Ultimately, however, only 11 MPs – including Mr Jenrick and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman – voted against it.
Other Tory MPs on the list include Miriam Cates, Sir Simon Clarke, Mark Francois and Danny Kruger.
Eighteen Conservative MPs did not record a vote, but some of them may simply have been unable to take part in the vote rather than intentionally abstaining.
Two things count in Westminster: noise and numbers. We've had a lot of them in the last few days.
But numbers are increasingly important, at least in the short term – and the government had them, the rebels didn't.
This week's story here is this: Around 60 Conservative MPs have major reservations about the government's Rwanda plan, which boils down to one key concern – they fear it is unlikely to work.
But the vast majority of those 60 ultimately agreed that it was better to stick with a plan that might work than to scrap it — and, in their view, guarantee that it wouldn't.
Among the 11 rebels who voted for it – and said they had their own plan that would work – were three former cabinet ministers: Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Sir Simon Clarke.
Suella Braverman's verdict was clear. “I couldn’t vote for another piece of legislation that was doomed to fail. The British people deserve honesty and that is why I voted against it,” she said.
The Rwanda plan lives on – and that's good news for Rishi Sunak. The real prize for him, however, is to prove demonstrably that the policy is successful. And we are some distance away from that.
Conservative Danny Kruger, who voted against the bill, said some of his colleagues chose to support the bill despite their concerns to avoid “political unrest.”
Sir Simon Clarke, who also spoke against the bill, said: “All Conservatives want the Rwanda policy to be successful… the deep concerns some of us have about the bill are on record, but history is now becoming.” show who was right.”
The Labor Party rejected the bill. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper branded the policy a “costly sham” that has so far failed to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock branded it “unaffordable, unworkable”. [and] unlawful”.
Home Secretary James Cleverly defended the plan, saying it sent “a very clear message that if you enter the UK illegally you will not be allowed to stay”.
“This bill has been carefully crafted to put an end to the merry-go-round of legal challenges,” he added.
The debate over the bill has exposed ongoing divisions among the Conservatives – on Tuesday night two deputy leaders, Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith, resigned from their posts to vote for the rebel amendments.
Despite his concerns, Mr Clarke-Smith supported the bill in its final stages, while Mr Anderson did not register a vote.
A rebel source told the BBC: “It's not like tonight's vote is the end of things. If the House of Lords decides – as I suspect it will – to send back amendments that weaken the Bill, the reaction of these parties will not be taken into account.” [right-wing Conservative MPs] will consist of submitting amendments that will tighten the bill instead.”
“The Prime Minister is by no means out of the woods.”
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The Rwanda bill was passed in the lower house with 320 votes in favor and 276 against
After being approved in the House of Commons, the bill will now move to the House of Lords, where it is expected to face serious opposition.
Home Secretary Chris Philp told BBC Breakfast on Thursday: “The bill obviously now needs to pass through the House of Lords. I hope that will happen fairly quickly.”
“We want these flights to take off as quickly as possible and the goal is to do this by the spring.”
However, responding to former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg's comments on BBC Newsnight that it was “unlikely” that flights to Rwanda would take off before the next election, Mr Philp replied that he did not share his “pessimism”.
He also played down divisions in the party, suggesting that Tory rebels had voted for the bill to avoid creating the appearance of disunity ahead of the election.
“I don't accept that… Overall, there was near consensus on the conservative side that overall this bill makes sense and represents a very significant step forward,” he said.
The UK has so far paid £240 million to the East African country and is expected to pay a further £50 million.
A Rwandan government spokeswoman later said the country had “no obligation” to return the money but would consider a request for reimbursement from the United Kingdom.
In Westminster, a Downing Street spokesman had to deny that there had been an attempt to change the Civil Service Regulations to include the presumption that interim orders from the European Court of Human Rights should be ignored.
Earlier in the day, Home Secretary Michael Tomlinson had said the government was “looking into it”, but hours later No 10 said it had no intention of rewriting the code.
The Cabinet Office later issued guidance saying it was the “responsibility” of civil servants to “implement” a minister's decision to ignore court decisions.