Rishi Sunak will send Home Ministry officials to Rwanda in an attempt to contain a growing Conservative Party revolt against his small boats policy.
The Prime Minister is due to unveil a new treaty with Rwanda this week in response to a court ruling that ruled a scheme to deport illegal migrants.
The decision came after right-wing Conservative MPs warned their leader that he faced an election “disaster,” including a reduction in party numbers to 60 seats, if the Prime Minister did not tackle the issue of illegal migration.
The Supreme Court judgement will also be resolved by Rwanda’s legally binding treaty obligation not to deport migrants under the scheme to third countries, which was one of the main concerns raised by the judges, a source said.
A second government source said some Interior Ministry officials were already in Rwanda working on the new treaty.
“We have been working on a new treaty with Rwanda, which will be ratified without delay,” Home Secretary James Cleverly said. “It will guarantee in law that those who are relocated from the UK to Rwanda will be protected against removal from Rwanda.”
The Home Secretary said illegal migration was “immoral” and “unfair” and argued that the Rwanda scheme was not a waste of time and money as it was already solving many problems.
If you don’t deal with the problems of the judgement comprehensively and use clear and unambiguous language in the emergency legislation, then we are going to be drawn into another problem with the courts, according to the veteran MP Sir Bill Cash.
However, Sunak is facing growing criticism from Tory MPs who want Sunak to toughen his bill by including “notwithstanding” clauses that would not operate under the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on Human Rights.
“If they bring forward legislation which doesn’t pass muster, like-minded people will try to amend it to make it stronger… I don’t think they comprehend the gravity of the disillusionment, a Tory MP said.
Some officials, MPs, former officials suggest that Sunak might even face a leadership challenge, asking questions with the same message: “Anybody who has a brain knows that he cannot remain in place” or “People are weighing up whether changing our leader could make things any worse than it currently is.”
