Rishi Sunak sees off Conservative rebels as MPs back Rwanda bill

Rishi Sunak has succeeded in getting his key Rwanda bill through the House of Commons after a Tory rebellion failed to materialise.

The bill, which aims to stop legal challenges against ministers’ plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, was approved by 320 votes to 276 votes.

Dozens of Tories thought the bill was flawed and had threatened to rebel but in the end, only 11 voted against it.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords where it will face stiff opposition.

Mr Sunak argues that deporting some asylum seekers to Rwanda will be a deterrent to migrants seeking to get to the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats, but Labour has labelled the plan an expensive “gimmick”.

Over the past two days MPs on the right of the Conservative Party have tried to change the bill, arguing that, without amendments, the government’s Rwanda plan could be blocked by the courts.

On Wednesday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick tabled an amendment which would permit the UK government to ignore parts of human rights law in relation to sending people to Rwanda.

Mr Jenrick also proposed an amendment which would ensure ministers automatically reject last-minute interim orders from the European Court of Human Rights.

Such an order was responsible for blocking a flight to Rwanda back in June 2022.

The amendment was not approved by MPs but received the backing of 61 Conservatives – the biggest rebellion of Mr Sunak’s premiership.

Some MPs had suggested they would be willing to abstain or even vote against the entire bill if it remained unchanged.

The bill could have fallen if about 30 Conservatives had voted against it – an outcome that would have severely damaged the prime minister’s authority, potentially fatally.

However, in the event, just 11 MPs – including Mr Jenrick and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman – voted against it.

Other Tory MPs on the list include Miriam Cates, Sir Simon Clarke, Mark Francois and Danny Kruger.

Eighteen Conservative MPs did not record a vote, however some of those may have simply been unable to attend the vote rather than deliberately abstaining.

Two things matter at Westminster – noise and numbers. We have had bucketloads of both these last few days.

But numbers, in the short term at least, always matter more – and the government had them, the rebels did not.

The story of this week here is this: around 60 Conservative MPs have major reservations with the government’s Rwanda plan, which boil down to a central concern – they fear it probably won’t work.

But the vast majority of those 60, in the end, thought sticking with a plan that might work was better than junking it – and, in their view, guaranteeing it won’t.

Among the 11 rebels who did vote to junk it – and said they had their own plan that would work – three recent former cabinet ministers: Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Sir Simon Clarke.

Suella Braverman’s verdict was blunt. “I could not vote for yet another law destined to fail. The British people deserve honesty and so I voted against,” she said.

The Rwanda plan lives on – and that is good news for Rishi Sunak. But the real prize for him is demonstrably proving the policy is delivering. And we are some distance from that.