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Rishi Sunak’s push to pass an emergency Rwanda bill has been dealt a fresh blow as a group of right-wing Tory MPs has concluded the legislation is not fit for purpose.
Sir Bill Cash – who has chaired a “star chamber” legal examination being waited on by hardliners – has said the bill is not “sufficiently watertight” to get deportation flights off the ground.
It comes as it emerged that foreign secretary David Cameron is helping in the battle to keep Tory MPs on side ahead of a crucial vote in parliament on Tuesday.
But sacked Suella Braverman has piled even more pressure on Mr Sunak by questioning his “rather strange” claim that going further on the bill would have caused the deal with Rwanda to collapse.
Suggesting the PM was not telling the truth, she told the Sunday Telegraph: “I’ve been to Rwanda several times and I have spoken to the Rwandan government a lot. It never once raised any kind of concerns like this.”
Conservatives from both the right and the left of the party are considering whether to oppose it in a crunch vote on Tuesday. Labour will whip to vote against the bill, meaning a rebellion by just 28 Tories could deliver a humiliating defeat.
Sir Bill has chaired a so-called “star chamber” of lawyers carrying out an examination for the European Research Group of Tory MPs, but others on the right in the New Conservatives and the Common Sense Group are also awaiting the formal findings – expected on Monday.
Suella Braverman claims Rwandan government did not threaten to pull out of scheme
(PA Wire)
The veteran Tory wrote in the Telegraph that they had been considering whether the “wording is sufficiently watertight to meet the government’s policy objectives”.
He said: “At present it does not. Our report, I hope, will be helpful to the government in deciding whether the bill in its current form is fit for purpose or will require further amendment, even by the government itself.”
Lord Cameron, and several other ministers, are said to have been helping in the No 10 push to persuade Tory rebels to back the bill. The new foreign secretary spoke to Sir Bill for 45 minutes on Friday afternoon, according to the Sunday Times.
The Tory right remains angry that the bill leaves open legal challenges by individual asylum seekers. Ms Braverman said: “There will be individual claims brought by every person who is put on the first flight to Rwanda.”
The ousted hardliner also raised concerns that it leaves ignoring temporary Rule 39 injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights which blocked last year’s planned Rwanda flight.
“I know that our attorney general has advised that to ignore a Rule 39 injunction would be a breach of international law, so therefore as it stands Rule 39s will block flights,” Ms Braverman said.
David Cameron (l) has been working to persuade Tory MPs to back the bill
(PA Wire)
Moderate Tories from the One Nation group are concerned about telling courts they must find that the East African nation is “safe”.
Damian Green, chair of the group, said: “The powers of ministers to take decisions on their own on individual cases, that’s one of the questions that’s been raised, and also the aspect of legislation asserting that Rwanda is safe. Those are two concerns we have.”
Some on the right want to go further in disapplying the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But the would-be rebels from across the spectrum are expected to wait until a later stage to seek to amend Mr Sunak’s plans rather than deliver him a humiliating defeat this week.
Sir Keir will use a speech on Tuesday, the day of the crucial vote, to argue that the Tories are “fighting like rats in a sack”.
Mr Sunak has argued in a new statement that Labour is “not fit to govern”, adding: “This week, Labour needs for once to rise above political games … They need to act in the national interest.”
But Sir Keir’s party accused the Tories of “begging for our votes” to pass the legislation to help revive their £290m Rwanda “gimmick”.
“That the prime minister is begging for our votes proves his tired, chaotic government cannot deliver for our country,” a party spokesman said.
Mr Sunak’s efforts to prevent his divided MPs rebelling on the legislation hit another snag when it was revealed that a legal assessment has been given it only a “50% at best” chance of success of getting removal flights off to Rwanda.
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