Rishi Sunak faces new Rwanda revolt from Tory left in fresh party turmoil - live
Moderates say they could join right-wing MPs in pushing PM to change migrants deportation bill
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Rishi Sunak has been hit by a fresh headache on his flagship Rwanda bill, as senior Conservatives on the left said they would join right-wing rebels in pushing for changes ahead of an expected second vote in January.
The embattled PM had believed he could count on Tory MPs in the moderate “One Nation” wing, as he fights to appease their rivals on the right who are demanding tougher deportation legislation.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk suggested the government would not cede to right-wingers by toughening up the bill, despite their threats to vote it down.
But, as No 10 prepares for crunch talks with the right-wingers over Christmas, senior Tory moderates told The Independent they were considering how to amend the bill to soften it.
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer mocked Tory MPs who criticised Rishi Sunak in the press in PMQs.
The Labour leader goaded the Tory benches, saying: “Come on, come on. Who was it who said he’s a really bad politician? Hands up.”
Meanwhile, Mark Drakeford announced he was standing down as Welsh Labour leader, triggering a contest to find his successor.
Critics ‘will not back’ Sunak’s Rwanda Bill after meeting in Westminster
Tory MPs demanding tougher legislation on the Rwanda plan have decided they will not back the bill after meeting in Westminster as Rishi Sunak faces a test of his authority.
The Prime Minister has been working to avert a rebellion but he faces resistance from the Tory right, with MPs calling for changes to the Safety of Rwanda Bill – which faces its first Commons test on Tuesday night.
Tories from the European Research Group (ERG) and four other factions were meeting in a Parliamentary committee room to decide on their next steps.
David Hughes reports:
Critics of Sunak’s Rwanda Bill meet in Westminster to consider next moves
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is battling to exert his authority over a fractured and fractious party.
Rwanda has made ‘utter mugs’ of ‘chaotic' government, according to SNP MP Wishart
Rwanda has made “utter mugs” of the “chaotic” UK Government, according to SNP MP Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire).
He told the Commons: “Hasn’t Rwanda played an absolute blinder? They must have seen them coming from thousands of miles away, soliciting hundreds of millions of pounds from this Government and apparently they’re going to get another £100 million more.
“They’ve done all this without taking one single deportee. Go Rwanda, you have made utter mugs of this chaotic Government across the road.”
Mr Wishart said the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill might be the piece of legislation that “brings down” the Government, adding: “What a hill to die on – an obsession with immigration, an obsession with stopping these small boats, and by God they deserve to be brought down.”
He went on: “Scotland rejects this. My constituents want nothing to do with this. I will proudly and defiantly be voting against this this evening and that will be in the name of the people I represent … what a disgraceful Bill, what an appalling piece of legislation, it deserves to be shoved right in the furthest bin from the furthest corner of this country.”
Five separate groups of right-wing Tories ‘cannot back Bill’
Five separate groups of right-wing Conservative MPs have decided they cannot support the Safety of Rwanda Bill at second reading on Tuesday, Mark Francois MP has said on their behalf.
Conservative former Home Office minister Kevin Foster gives backing to Bill
Kevin Foster, a Conservative former Home Office minister, gave his backing to the Bill.
“I do think this Bill does need to get a second reading. There are clearly points of detail that we can explore at committee,” the MP for Torbay said.
Mr Foster added that he had questions about clause four of the Bill on decisions about individual circumstances, addressing immigration minister Michael Tomlinson as he said: “Where is the evidence threshold going to be? It will be particularly interesting to hear, particularly given his former role as solicitor general, his experience in front of the courts directly, where he believes the courts may draw the line for interim relief?”
Duncan Baker, the Tory MP for North Norfolk, said: “I will support this Bill this evening, because it is a fundamental right that a country must be able to protect its borders, and as a basic it should know who is entering the country, and even more so if they are trying to do it illegally.
“I support the Bill because we simply cannot rest on our laurels with the current action we have taken, as positive as that already is.”
Immigration has turned Doncaster into a ‘ghetto’, Tory MP says
Immigration has turned Doncaster into a “ghetto”, a Conservative MP has said.
Speaking in the Commons, Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher said: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Doncaster is full.”
He added: “We are turning parts of our community into a ghetto.”
Mr Fletcher said people “don’t expect to be called racist or xenophobic for saying ‘we liked it as it was’, and if we’re going to have immigration, which I don’t completely believe is a bad thing to do, it just needs to be controlled immigration”.
Mr Fletcher said he would be back the Bill but added: “We’ve got friends on this side of the House who want this Bill stronger and I’m going to work with them, and I’m hopefully going to work with you because we must make this work, we have to stop the boats.”
Strengthening Bill’s measures risks undermining UK standing in world, says Tory backbencher
Strengthening the Bill’s measures further risks undermining the UK’s standing in the world, a Tory backbencher told the Commons.
Conservative MP Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) said: “I welcome the fact that it is doing something novel, but I am uncomfortable in that position, because what this Bill does is to go up to the line of international law, and international law is important.”
He added: “(International law) is the foundation upon which we are able to do the deals with other countries, for instance Albania, France, Italy, that allow us to tackle illegal migration.
“Because Rwanda cannot be the only thing that we do, Rwanda has to be, if it is to happen, a part of a meaningful package of measures. If we go so far in one direction to try and ensure that flights to Rwanda take off, we will knock out other important parts of the deal that we need to do.”
He said his party needs to be “careful about walking a tightrope”, saying: “If we try and go further the risk is not just that we undermine our whole approach to tackling this issue with a multi-pronged approach, it also risks simply undermining Britain’s whole standing in the world – so we will have a policy that won’t work and a country that is less than where we started.”
He added: “I find myself voting for this Bill this evening not with huge enthusiasm for anything other than the concept of addressing a problem that we have a moral duty to address.”
Watch live: MPs vote on Sunak’s emergency Rwanda bill
Watch live as MPs vote on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s emergency Rwanda legislation on Tuesday, 12 December.
The Prime Minister is attempting to defuse a Tory revolt, as there stands significant division on both sides of the Conservative Party over the bill.
Some on the right of the party want a tougher law, while those towards the left have warned against the bill breaching international law in the future.
Watch live here:
Watch live: MPs vote on Sunak’s emergency Rwanda bill
Watch live as MPs vote on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s emergency Rwanda legislation on Tuesday, 12 December.
Senior Tories urge colleagues to cease internal hostilities and back Bill
Senior Tories have urged their colleagues to cease internal hostilities and back the Bill.
Conservative former minister Sir Edward Leigh said: “The Conservative Party, I hear of all these different groups. You know, a house divided is a house that is going to be destroyed. We have to work together. There is no other solution.”
The Gainsborough MP suggested his party should make leaving the European Convention on Human Rights a manifesto pledge at the next election to satisfy calls from the Tory right, adding: “Meanwhile, this Bill probably goes just about as far as we can do. I am sorry, but that is all we can get through Parliament and we have to be realistic.”
Conservative former minister Jackie Doyle-Price said she had never been an “enthusiastic supporter” of the Rwanda plan but was happy to support the Bill, adding: “I really question how we have got into this ridiculous place this week where these benches are all falling out with each other over a small element of a bigger policy. It is completely stupid. The only people who benefit are the benches opposite.
“For those people who are prepared to give them a victory tonight, well, good luck to you. That is great. But some of us are actually more intent on delivering the outcome, which is stopping the boats and breaking the criminal gangs who profit from other people’s misery.”
Clive Efford, Labour MP for Eltham, commented on the differences between Tory factions, telling the Commons: “That gangway has never seemed so wide. It seems to be the equivalent of the Berlin Wall for the left and right of the Conservative Party.”
Rwanda Bill is ‘inoperable and ineffective’ without amendments, says Tory MP
The Rwanda Bill is “inoperable and ineffective” without amendments, a Conservative MP has said.
Speaking in the Commons, deputy ERG chairman David Jones said: “I believe that this Bill does require amendments and what I’m inviting my honourable friend the minister to say when he winds up this evening is that the Government is open to amendments.”
The MP for Clwyd West added: “At the moment, there are numerous deficiencies that have been identified in the report of the so-called star chamber that will, I believe, render this Bill inoperable and ineffective.
“The last thing we want to do as a House is to expend a lot of time and a lot of agony over putting in place a Bill that doesn’t result in the flights to Rwanda and the deterrence that we need to illegal migrants.
“I do hope that my honourable friend will respond positively to this suggestion when he winds up, I know there’s a lot of colleagues (who) are going to listen very carefully to what he’s got to say, and I think that they will welcome what may well be regarded as a change of tone on the part of the Government.”
Labour MP Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) accused the Government of taking a “Vicky Pollard approach to making legislation”.
She added: “You cannot amend yourself out of this challenge without one side of Tweedledum and one side of Tweedledee arguing any more, this is a mess.”
In pictures: Crunch debate on Rwanda Bill underway in Commons
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