LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing rebellion from senior lawmakers in his Conservative Party over his stalled plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, a controversial and costly policy launched by the British leader The focus has been on his attempt to win an election this year.
To do this, he must unite his divided party, which is lagging far behind the Labor opposition in opinion polls. But the conservatives' liberal and authoritarian wings – always uneasy allies – are at odds over the Rwanda plan. Moderates fear the policy is too extreme, while many on the party's powerful right wing think it doesn't go far enough.
In a blow to Sunak, two Conservative Party deputy leaders will vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday to tighten the government's flagship law on Rwanda's security. Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith announced they will support amendments aimed at removing asylum seekers' ability to appeal against deportation to Rwanda.
“I want this legislation to be as strong as possible,” Clarke-Smith wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
More than 60 Tory MPs, including former prime minister Boris Johnson, are backing amendments to toughen the legislation, and some say they will vote against the bill as a whole if it is not tightened. That, combined with the votes of opposition parties, could be enough to kill the legislation. That would be a major blow to Sunak's authority and potentially fatal to the Rwanda plan.
Sunak insists the bill goes as far as the government can because Rwanda will pull out of its agreement to accommodate asylum seekers if the UK breaches international law.
Conservative moderates, meanwhile, fear the bill is already flirting with a violation of international law and say they will reject it if it gets any tougher. Those concerns were underscored by the United Nations refugee agency, which said on Monday that despite the treaty and new legislation, the Rwanda plan was “incompatible with international refugee law.”
Sunak has made Rwanda policy central to his pledge to “stop the boats” bringing illegal migrants from France across the English Channel to Britain. In 2023, more than 29,000 people have made the dangerous journey, up from 42,000 the year before. Five people died over the weekend as they tried to launch a boat from northern France in the darkness and winter cold.
London and Kigali reached an agreement almost two years ago that would send migrants crossing the English Channel to Britain to Rwanda, where they would remain permanently. Britain has paid at least 240 million pounds ($305 million) to Rwanda under the deal, but no one has yet been sent to the East African country.
The plan was criticized by human rights groups as inhumane and unworkable and was challenged in the British courts. In November, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the policy was illegal because Rwanda was not a safe country for refugees.
In response to the court ruling, Britain and Rwanda signed a treaty pledging to strengthen protections for migrants. Sunak's government argues that the treaty allows it to pass a law declaring Rwanda a safe travel destination.
If passed by Parliament, the bill would allow the government to “not apply” parts of Britain's human rights laws to Rwanda-related asylum claims and make it harder to challenge the deportations in court.
If the bill is passed by the lower house on Wednesday, it will move to the upper house of parliament, where it will face more opposition.