Tory MPs seek to ‘toughen’ Rwanda Bill as Sunak faces Commons showdown

Rishi Sunak faces a showdown with MPs over his Rwanda Bill when it returns to the Commons next week, with around 30 MPs prepared to back amendments aimed at toughening up the legislation.

Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt on Tuesday announced the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill’s committee stage will take place on January 16 and 17.

The prime minister is under pressure from both sides of his party over the legislation, which is aimed at overcoming the Supreme Court’s objections to the stalled plan to deport some migrants to the African country.

Those on the right want the controversial legislation to be tightened, while more centrist Tories have threatened to oppose the Bill if it risks breaching international law.

Leading right-wing Tories, led by former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, have tabled amendments designed to tackle last-minute injunctions by the European Court of Human Rights and tighten the grounds on which illegal migrants can bring individual claims.

Writing in the Telegraph, right-wingers Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates said that the amendments were “proportionate, consistent with our international obligations, and have respectable legal arguments behind them”.

“As with the rest of the Bill, and the Rwanda plan in general, they are tough – because they need to be.”

Mr Sunak has said he would welcome “bright ideas” on how to improve the Bill, but has previously insisted it strikes the right balance with only an “inch” between his rescue plan and more radical measures that would risk Kigali pulling out of the scheme.

The legislation seeks to enable Parliament to deem Rwanda “safe” generally but makes limited allowances for personal claims against being sent to the east African nation under a clause disliked by Conservative hardliners.

Centrist former deputy prime minister Damian Green said the Prime Minister had assured him the Bill would not be strengthened.

“The Prime Minister’s looked me in the eye and said that he doesn’t want to go any further” and potentially break international law by ignoring its human rights obligations, he told the New Statesman.

Mr Sunak won a key Commons vote on his emergency draft law in December despite speculation about a major rebellion by Tory MPs.

But it faces further dissent during the upcoming parliamentary stages and heavy scrutiny in the Lords.

Meanwhile, Labour was defeated in its bid to force the Government to release documents relating to the scheme.

The Opposition motion asked for any documents that show the cost of relocating each individual asylum seeker to Rwanda as well as a list of all payments made or scheduled to be made to Rwanda’s government.

It also asked for the Government’s internal breakdown of the more than 35,000 asylum decisions made last year and an unredacted copy of the confidential memorandum of understanding ministers reached with the East African country.

But MPs voted 304 to 228, majority 76, to reject the proposal.

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