Home Secretary James Cleverly has signed a new treaty with Rwanda in a bid to save Rishi Sunak’s thwarted deportation plan.
A contingency plan B is also planned soon, as Mr Sunak tries to argue that Rwanda is a safe country to send migrants to following his government’s defeat at the High Court.
Senior Tory right-wingers are plotting an uprising, urging the Prime Minister to opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – warning he must go for the ‘full-fat’ version to keep judges bypass.
The independent understands that the 35 New Conservative MPs will meet others from the right this evening – including the Commons Sense Group and the European Research Group – to discuss whether to vote against Mr Sunak’s legislation if it is not tough enough.
But senior Tory moderates are also warning Mr Sunak that they may not support his legislation if he tries to ignore the ECHR – arguing it would be “a mistake” that will not gain public support.
Both parties pose a real threat to Sunak’s plans – as it would only take around 25 to 30 Tory MPs to vote with the opposition to reject his landmark legislation.
Cleverly traveled to Kigali on Tuesday, where the prime minister is trying to make his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda legally sound after the Supreme Court ruled against the policy.
Legal experts and charities believe the attempt to get flights going before the 2024 election will fail – with the government’s own lawyers pessimistic about attempts to circumvent human rights law.
Mr Cleverly, who met his counterpart Vincent Biruta to sign the treaty, hopes the enhanced agreement, which gives it the status of international law, will address the issues that led Britain’s highest court to declare “offshoring” ” deportation plan has been declared illegal.
But in Kigali, Cleverly could not guarantee that the first flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda will leave in the spring. as the government intends.
The Home Secretary said: “We want to see this part of our wider migration plan operational as soon as possible. We strongly believe that this treaty addresses all issues of their rule in the Supreme Court.”
He said he “couldn’t see any credible reason” to question Rwanda’s record, adding that planned new domestic legislation would come “soon.”
British lawyers will be sent to Rwanda to help process claims and ensure appeals are awarded correctly. Ministers said the new treaty would ensure those relocated to Rwanda do not risk being sent back to the countries they fled – an act known as refoulement – including through a new appeals body.
An independent monitoring committee assesses the processing of asylum applications and the treatment and support of individuals for a maximum of 5 years. It will also set up a new whistleblowing system that will allow asylum seekers sent to Rwanda to file confidential complaints.
John Hayes MP, the mentor of sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman, is demanding the Tory leader withdraw from the ECHR in his emergency legislation in Rwanda.
“We need strict measures. It is important to get those flights to Rwanda – so we have to be very tough,” the leader of the Tories Commons Sense Group told me. The independent.
Senior Tory Mark Francois, the head of the ERG, also warned Mr Sunak it could be “three strikes and you’re out” – and urged the Prime Minister to ignore the ECHR in emergency legislation in Rwanda.
Tory moderates in the One Nation caucus – which has around 100 MPs – have urged Sunak to remain committed to both the ECHR and the UK Human Rights Act in emergency legislation in Rwanda.
Stephen Hammond, deputy leader, said moderate MPs would “find it difficult to support a so-called full-fledged” option – warning that any attempt to flout the ECHR “would be a mistake and would not attract public support.” to have”.
Former minister Damian Green, chairman of the One Nation group, said: “The government should think twice before casting aside both the ECHR and HRA, and not rush into such difficult decisions in the long term.” He said the group was studying the Rwanda treaty “extremely carefully”.
Immigration Secretary Robert Jenrick claimed he is confident flights to Rwanda will start before the general election – as he described illegal migrants having ‘invaded’ the UK.
The hardline Cabinet minister said it is “very wrong” for people to enter the UK illegally on small boats. serious.”
Senior officials from the Ministry of Interior are said to have warned No 10 that the Rwanda legislation is doomed to failure. Government lawyers are reportedly refusing to sanction the most draconian version, which would dispense with the ECHR by using a “notwithstanding” clause to instruct British judges to ignore it in asylum cases.
Enver Solomon of the Refugee Council said the treaty showed a “callous disregard for people fleeing unimaginable horrors” and would have a “devastating impact” on the mental health of people seeking asylum. He added: “It is time for the government to admit that the Rwanda plan is simply not the right way forward.”
The campaign group Freedom from Torture called it “shameful” to sign a new treaty. “No amount of tinkering will change the fundamental fact that this ‘cash for people’ deal is immoral… it must be shelved once and for all,” they said.
The president of the Law Society, Nick Emmerson, said: “The suggestion to station British lawyers in Rwanda implies a lack of confidence in the way cases would be handled there… The government must admit that the plan is probably beyond repair .”
It comes as a new poll from Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that more people who voted for the Tories in 2019 plan to support Reform UK than Labour. About 15 percent plan to swap the Conservatives for the far-right party, while only 13 percent will move to Labour, the survey found.
In an effort to reduce record high net migration, Mr Cleverly raised the salary threshold for foreign workers to £38,700. The measures announced on Monday also banned overseas social care staff from bringing dependents to Britain.
But Mr Jenrick said more action may be needed to reduce legal migration. “You are right to say that there may be more things that need to be done, but this is without doubt a big step forward,” he told GB News on Tuesday.
And in comments that have raised eyebrows at Westminster, the immigration minister also said there would be “benefits” to introducing an “Australian-style” annual cap on net migration – a move called for by Ms Braverman.