Rishi Sunak is braced for a showdown with his MPs over the Rwanda plan as Right-wing rebel Tories showed no signs of backing down.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick on Wednesday warned the Prime Minster that the proposal to deport some asylum seekers to the east African nation “simply doesn’t work” in its current form.
He and several dozen MPs on the right of the Conservative Party want to see the legislation significantly beefed up.
The group are backing amendments to the Rwanda Bill, due back in the Commons next week, aimed at effectively ignoring international law and limiting individual migrants’ ability to resist being put on flights to Rwanda.
Mr Jenrick, who quit as a minister last year in protest at the watered down legislation, told BBC Radio 4: "In its current form the Bill simply doesn’t work and that’s all I’m interested in and I think it’s all the public really care about...This is the third piece of legislation in three years, it’s three strikes or you’re out, we’ve got to get this right."
The measures Mr Jenrick and his allies are pushing would end what he called the “merry-go-round of individual claims” whereby people who come to the UK in small boats “claim every possible defence in order to frustrate their removal to Rwanda”.
It would also prevent flights being grounded by emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights.
The Government’s Bill and a treaty with Rwanda are intended to make the scheme legally watertight.
Ministers introduced the Bill last month, after the original plan was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court last year.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who backs the changes put forward by Mr Jenrick and Sir Bill Cash, said: “To not adopt these amendments, and introduce another failing Bill, will be a betrayal of the British people.”
However none have said they will directly vote against the legislation if the changes are not accepted.
Centrist Tory MPs believe they have the votes to get the Bill through the Commons in its current form and believe Mr Sunak would stick firm on the plan.
Former Deputy Prime Minister and chair of the One Nation Conservatives Caucus Damian Green said the PM had assured him the Bill would not be strengthened.
Mr Sunak has said he would welcome “bright ideas” on how to improve it, but has previously insisted it already strikes the right balance.
The scheme has cost £240 million so far, with a further £50 million committed for next year, but so far not a single asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda due to the legal challenges.
The legislation seeks to enable Parliament to deem Rwanda “safe” generally but makes limited allowances for personal claims against being sent to the east African nation under a clause disliked by Conservative hardliners.
But accepting measures from the right of the party would risk angering the centrist One Nation wing, who want to ensure international law is respected.
“The Prime Minister’s looked me in the eye and said that he doesn’t want to go any further” and potentially break international law by ignoring its human rights obligations, Mr Green told the New Statesman.
The legislation cleared its first Commons hurdle last year despite speculation about a major rebellion by Tory MPs.
But while it was originally billed as emergency legislation that would be rushed through the Commons, its passage has been slowed because of the wrangling with Tory MPs.
Even if it clears the Commons next week it will face an uphill battle in the Lords.
