Tory rebels will not “kill” the controversial Rwanda Bill in the New Year, cabinet ministers insisted on Wednesday.
After a week of bitter splits among Conservative MPs, Home Secretary James Cleverly sought to turn the focus onto Labour rather than the divisions within the party.
He said the Prime Minister and his cabinet will work with right wing factions to “strengthen” the legislation and get flights taking off to the African nation next spring.
In the end no Conservatives voted against the legislation but 29 abstained on principle, including sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman, former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and European Research Group (ERG) Chair Mark Francois.
It means Mr Sunak still faces a fierce battles with his MPs and the Lords in the New Year to get the asylum seeker deportation plan over the line.
When asked whether some factions would vote down the Bill in January, Mr Cleverly told Sky News: “I will talk to Mark and I’ll talk to others, of course, to understand their thinking on this and try to harvest their ideas to make things better.
“But I can’t see if someone’s got a concern that the Bill might not be as strong as they would like, killing the Bill doesn’t strike me as the best way of doing that, because if the bill isn’t on the statute books it can’t possibly succeed.”
Put to him that “a lot of Tories” do not want the legislation to work, he added: “No, this is absolutely wrong. The Conservative Party is united on the desire to get this right and to stop the boats.
“The Labour Party’s position is to try and wreck it.”
The legislation is designed to prevent migrants who come to the UK on small boats across the Channel from legally challenging deportation to Rwanda after the Supreme Court ruled the flagship asylum policy unlawful.
It seeks to revive the stalled plan by enabling Parliament to deem the country safe in order to block claims against being sent to Kigali made on the basis that it is unsafe.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said last night’s vote was a success.
“It was good to get the Bill through on second reading, which is to establish the principle of the Bill,” he told LBC.
“We’ve said we’ll continue working with Conservative colleagues and indeed anybody across the house that wants to improve it as long as any of those amendments deal with fundamental things, which is keeping Rwanda onside and making sure that bill is consistent with international law.”
