Rishi Sunak said he would be “open” to changing his Rwanda bill in a bid to quell growing dissent among Tory MPs over the flagship deportation legislation.
The PM won a crunch first hurdle vote in the Commons on his emergency bill aimed at sending illegal migrants on one-way flights to Kigali.
But faces opposition from the Tory right – who want the bill toughened up – and senior Tory moderates who have told The Independent they also want to amend the bill in a bid to soften its impact.
Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday, Mr Sunak said: “If there are ways that the legislation can be improved, to be made even more effective – with a respectable legal argument and maintaining the participation of the Rwandans in the scheme – of course we would be open to that, who wouldn’t be?”
Right-wing Tory factions including the European Research Group (ERG) have threatened to vote down the bill unless it is hardened – including by denying asylum seekers individual appeals.
But this could risk losing the backing of more centrist Tories in the ‘One Nation’ wing, who are keen to protect the legislation against breaches of international law.
Leading moderate Sir Robert Buckland confirmed that he was also considering how it might be “tweaked” to make it comply with global treaties.
“If anything, it probably should be tweaked in the other direction, and if it was, I would think there are numbers within the House of Commons… and certainly the House of Lords, to amend the bill to make it legally more workable,” the ex-justice secretary told LBC.
RIshi Sunak visits Wren Academy school in Finchley, north London on Thursday
Mr Sunak dismissed all the dissent as “debating society” behaviour – but in a bid to pre-empt Tory rebellion he said that Rwanda will not take deportees who have no legal recourse to the European Court of Human Rights.
“What the country wants is a practical government that is making a difference to their lives and changing things for the better, not a debating society,” he said in a new interview with Spectator.
“People are frustrated that the pace of change is not fast enough. I get that. I am working night and day, tirelessly, to keep making a difference,” he said.
Mr Sunak has refused to say how soon flights to Rwanda take off if he gets the legislation through parliament – but No 10 has said the plan remains to see deportations begin by spring. “I’m keen to crack on with it,” is all the PM would say when asked about timings.
The 40 or so leading right-wing MPs who attended meetings of the “five families” with European Research Group (ERG) chairman Mark Francois on Tuesday were said to be evenly split between abstaining or voting against.
A Tory rebel source said: “This bill has been allowed to live another day. But without amendments it will be killed next month. It is now up to the government to decide what it wants to do.”
No 10 refused to be drawn on “private conversations”, amid speculation that discussions aimed at appeasing MPs will continue over the Christmas break before parliament’s return in January.
But Mr Sunak’s spokesman struck a more generous tone when pressed on Tory amendments on Thursday. “A number of people have made suggestions, we will continue to listen … We are keen to very hear more from MPs.”
On Wednesday, justice secretary Alex Chalk suggested the government will not cave to pressure from the right of the Tory party by watering down the bill’s commitment to international obligations.
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.
Mr Sunak has tried to find a middle ground with the Bill, which is designed to prevent migrants who arrive in Britain via unauthorised routes from challenging deportation, after the Supreme Court ruled the flagship policy unlawful.
It allows ministers to disapply the Human Rights Act, but does not go as far as overriding the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which MPs on the Conservative right have argued is necessary to get the grounded £290mn scheme running.
