Get tougher on Rwanda, say Tory rebels

TORY rebels moved to toughen the new Rwanda laws last night amid a warning from Suella Braverman that failing to act would ‘betray the British people’.

Writing exclusively for today’s Mail, the Tory former home secretary says the Safety of the Rwanda Bill will be useless if Rishi Sunak refuses to back the changes.

She says the Government was ‘hurtling towards a re-run of the scene of the grounded Rwanda flight in June 2022’, when Strasbourg judges blocked the immigration policy with a late-night injunction.

In the first major flashpoint of the year for the Prime Minister, MPs from the Right of his party tabled a series of changes including stronger powers to ignore Strasbourg and bar challenges by migrants.

However, centrist Conservatives are likely to oppose most amendments brought by their colleagues.

The Rwanda policy, which is designed to see Channel small boat migrants sent to the east African nation to claim asylum there rather than here, was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court in November.

Mr Sunak believes the Bill addresses all the concerns raised by the judges and will finally allow removals flights to take off by spring. He has warned that additional measures could risk breaching international law and lead to the govern ment of Rwanda pulling out of the deal. But tough extra measures were backed by 30 Right-wing Conservatives last night, including Mrs Braverman, former Tory leader Sir Iain duncan Smith and former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The rebel group insisted it had received advice from leading constitutional lawyers that its proposals would not breach international law.

Tory MP Robert Jenrick, who resigned as immigration minister the Bill last month, said: ‘The Bill as drafted simply will not work because it doesn’t end the merrygo-round of legal challenges that frustrate removals.’

In June 2022 Strasbourg judges used a ‘Rule 39’ order to block the first attempt at getting a Rwanda flight away.

Mr Sunak’s Bill says only ministers will decide – and not judges – whether the UK will comply with these orders, but the rebels want to strengthen this to oblige ministers to ignore the injunctions except in limited cases.

Centrist former deputy PM damian Green said Mr Sunak had assured him that the policy would not be tightened up.

‘The Prime Minister’s looked me in the eye and said that he doesn’t want to go any further,’ said Mr Green, chairman of the One Nation caucus of Tory MPs.

One Nation MPs have threatened to vote against the Bill if it risks breaching international obligations.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt announced yesterday that it will face its next big test, committee stage, next Tuesday.

‘Ignoring the injunctions’