Tories at war as rival rebel gangs demand Rishi Sunak's Rwanda plan is shredded
Rishi Sunak's Rwanda crisis has deepened after rebel MPs demanded key parts of his plan are ripped out - setting up a brutal showdown next week.
Moderates within the Conservative Party have told the Prime Minister his bid to weaken human rights laws has "gone too far". But hardliners - including Suella Braverman, Liz Truss, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Robert Jenrick - instead want the controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill to go even further in denying legal rights to asylum seekers.
It means Mr Sunak is caught in a bruising battle between his warring MPs - who will refuse to back each other's demands. It will take just 28 Tories voting against his Bill, or 55 to abstain, to inflict a humiliating defeat on the PM.
Sir Robert Buckland has said right-wing amendments go 'too far' and won't get supportIn the latest set of amendments, former Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland called for a clause denying Human Rights Act protection to asylum seekers to be ditched. He also said the UK must not be allowed to ignore rulings by international courts, as proposed by Mr Sunak.
But this puts him at loggerheads with the right-wing "five families" groups, who want the Bill beefed up. Mr Jenrick, who quit as Immigration Minister in protest over the PM's plans, has tabled 15 amendments, backed by around 40 MPs. These are aimed at making it harder for asylum seekers to appeal, and blocking injunctions from European judges.
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Sir Robert, a member of the centrist One Nation group of Tories, told GB News that no members of his faction - which has around 100 members - will back Mr Jenrick's changes. He said: "They are not acceptable. In fact they go way too far. They show no respect for the rule of law and are fundamentally unconservative.
"They will not be supported. And I can't think of many One Nation colleagues who would. The bill itself has gone too far anyway and it needs to be trimmed."
The legislation - designed to get around a Supreme Court ruling that Rwanda isn't a safe place to send asylum seekers to - will be put before the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday. Right wingers warn that it won't achieve its aims without the changes they propose.
Mr Jenrick - who refused to say if he will vote for the Bill if it isn't amended, said it "simply doesn't work" as it stands. And former frontbencher Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg - who also supports the right-wing amendments - pointed out that two previous Tory attempts to stop the boats had failed.
He said: “Passing an ineffective bill would make the government look hopeless. In many ways it would be better to do nothing than to fail again because this is actually the third go at trying to get people deported to Rwanda.”
It comes as human rights groups accuse the PM of trying to "fundamentally change reality" by pushing the "fiction" that Rwanda is safe for refugees. Tyrone Steele, interim legal director at law charity Justice, said the Bill "has tried to fundamentally change reality". He added: "It tries to create this legal fiction that Rwanda is safe despite the Supreme Court finding that's not the case."
Mr Sunak is pushing through the act after top judges ruled in November that African nation isn't a safe place to send asylum seekers. The Government wants the new legislation to declare that it is, along with a new treaty with Rwanda which it says contains vital safeguards.
He is desperate to get deportation flights up and running, having already handed over £240million to the Rwandan government since April 2022. Another £50million will be paid in the spring, with further payments in 2025 and 2026 - also believed to be £50million.
Earlier this week the Tories voted down a motion by Labour calling for the full cost of the scheme to be released. They also demanded key documents - said to show Mr Sunak wasn't convinced the project would work - were made public.
When Mr Sunak's Bill was put before MPs last month 29 Conservatives failed to vote despite not having permission from whips to be absent.
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