Rishi wins Rwanda vote after the Tory rebellion fades away

RISHI Sunak’s flagship Rwanda Bill cleared the Commons last night after Tory rebels threw in the towel.

His emergency legislation, designed to end legal hurdles and get deportation flights off the ground, was voted through with a government majority of 44.

The crucial vote at 9.20pm saw 320 MPs back the Safety of Rwanda Bill, with 276 voting against – including 11 Tory rebels.

It means the Prime Minister avoided a defeat that would have plunged his Government into crisis and could have derailed the plan to put illegal migrants on one-way flights to East Africa. The legislation could now begin its journey through the Lords as early as today.

The Government had been nervous after a major rebellion the day before when 60 Conservative MPs defied whips in a bid to toughen up the Bill, and deputy Tory chairmen Lee Anderson and Brendan ClarkeSmith resigned to join the revolt.

In a sign of No10’s jitters, ministers

‘We are governed by a foreign court’

were ordered to cancel engagements to be present, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delaying a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The defiance continued yesterday as 61 Tory MPs backed a proposal by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick to stop the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) blocking the removal of asylum seekers, which grounded the first flight in June 2022.

Following another day of fierce debate, most rebel MPs signalled they would step back from the brink and support the Government in last night’s ‘third reading’ vote.

After a private meeting of 45 rebels, a source said: ‘ The majority of those who spoke in the room have decided to back the Bill at third reading. A small number will vote No on a point of principle.’

But in the final vote some backbenchers still held out, including former home secretary Suella Braverman, eximmigration minister Robert Jenrick, party grandee Sir Bill Cash and rebel leaders Danny Kruger, Miriam Cates and Mark Francois.

Former ministers Sir Simon Clarke, David Jones, Sir James Duddridge, Dame Andrea Jenkyns and Sarah Dines also voted against the Bill. Howto ever Home Secretary James Cleverly insisted: ‘This Bill has been meticulously drafted to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges. As drafted, as we intend this Bill to progress, it will be in complete compliance with international law.’ The vote came as:

■ Mrs Braverman warned the public ‘will not forgive us’ if the Government fails to make the Rwanda scheme work.

■ Peers warned that the Bill would get a ‘ bumpy ride’ in the Lords and could be delayed until the autumn, wrecking the PM’s plan to get the first flights off by Easter.

■ Civil service unions reacted with fury after the Government issued guidance suggesting they could be asked to ignore ECHR injunctions.

■ An estimated 300 migrants crossed the Channel to Kent.

Downing Street said the plan to send Channel migrants Africa would provide the ‘deterrent’ needed to smash the people- smuggling gangs behind the deadly crossings.

The scheme was blocked by the Supreme Court in November after judges accepted claims from campaigners that Rwanda was not safe.

The new legislation declares in law that Rwanda is safe and stops the courts examining the principle of the scheme. But it will not prevent individual appeals by people threatened with deportation.

The Bill gives ministers the power to overrule injunctions from the ECHR, which prevented the first flight to Rwanda in June 2022.

Sir Keir Starmer mocked Tory infighting, likening it to ‘hundreds of bald men scrapping over a broken comb’.

Mrs Braverman said the ECHR was ‘controlling this country’s ability to stop the boats’, adding: ‘We are being governed by a foreign court.’