'Three strikes and you're out': Sunak issued warning over Rwanda Bill

A former Home Office minister has warned Rishi Sunak it's "three strikes and you're out" over the Rwanda anti-migration plan, suggesting it will be highly damaging for the Conservatives if the prime minister fails once again to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The Supreme Court last year said the plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful because it did not consider the African nation to be safe - in response the PM announced he would introduce emergency legislation which he claimed would get the policy off the ground.

But Robert Jenrick - who quit his ministerial role over the Safety of Rwanda Bill, saying it didn't go far enough - suggested he and others on the right of the party would reject the PM's plan unless it is heavily amended.

"We are urging the government to strengthen the Bill because as currently drafted we simply don't think it is going to work to create the deterrent effect that we need to stop the boats," he said.

Despite the prime minister claiming the plan will satisfy the courts, allowing deportations, Mr Jenrick has suggested that flights could still be blocked while the UK remains bound by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Mr Jenrick said his amendments would end what he called the “merry-go-round of individual claims whereby illegal migrants claim every possible defence in order to frustrate their removal to Rwanda”.

"At the moment the Bill doesn't work," the MP said, "and it needs to be very seriously reformed".

MPs will debate the Safety of Rwanda Bill next week and it presents a massive hurdle for Mr Sunak who is under pressure from dozens the right of his party who have claimed the plan is too weak to succeed.

Asked if Mr Sunak could still expect their support if he does not agree to all amendments, Mr Jenrick said: "I don't see the point in voting for or supporting a Bill which doesn't work and that's what we have.

"And remember, this is the third Bill in three years - it's three strikes or you're out - we have to make sure this one works and if we don't, the public will rightly be furious that we have wasted so much time and allowed the small boats crisis to continue."

'It's three strikes and you're out' over the Rwanda plan, says Jenrick

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who also quit government over what she said was the PM's inability to force through the Rwanda plan, back Mr Jenrick's plans.

She said: “To not adopt these amendments, and introduce another failing Bill, will be a betrayal of the British people.”

Prime Minister Sunak's spokesman told reporters in a briefing following Prime Minister's Questions that ministers will "carefully" consdier the amendments.

The PM's spokesman said it was “right as we do with all amendments to consider them carefully, before deciding on how to act”.

He said that the Government had said it would act within the “parameters” of both providing a deterrent and wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardise the Rwanda partnership.

Mr Sunak’s press secretary said that there were a “whole series of engagements” taking place “consistently” with MPs.

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She said those bringing forward amendments should “explain why they think they have a respectable legal argument”.

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.

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.

Despite Mr Sunak making the Rwanda plan one of his flagship policies, there have been numerous reports he expressed concerns about it before becoming PM and it has even been claimed he considered scrapping it during his leadership campaign.

Mr Jenrick - who worked closely with the PM during the campaign - did not deny the prime minister had reservations.

When asked, the former minister said he was "not going to get into private conversations" he'd had with the PM.

Mr Sunak was also asked at PMQs about reports he had doubts about the plan.

“I notice he didn’t deny it," said Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. "I am not surprised, £400 million of taxpayers money down the drain, no one sent to Rwanda, small boats still coming.

"It is hardly a surprise he wanted to scrap the scheme when he was trying to sneak in as Tory leader.

“But he has been caught red handed opposing the very thing that he has now made his flagship policy."

After listing a number of policies he claimed had successfully reduced illegal migration, Mr Sunak added: “He is the only one opposed to a proper deterrent, not because it doesn’t work but because he doesn’t actually believe in controlling migration.”

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