Relief for PM as he avoids damaging defeat on Rwanda bill

Relief for PM as he avoids damaging defeat on Rwanda bill thumbnail

Rishi Sunak has avoided a damaging Tory rebellion over his flagship Rwanda bill in a crunch vote in the Commons.

The totemic legislation, which aims to revive the stalled £290m deportation scheme after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful, has been backed by MPs at its second reading by 313 votes to 269, a majority of 44.

Follow live: Reaction and fallout to MPs’ vote on Rwanda bill

The result will come as a relief to the prime minister, who spent the day holding crisis talks with various factions of the Conservative right to persuade them to back it.

However, it may push the row further down the line if the hardliners continue to demand amendments to toughen up the legislation by blocking interference from foreign courts – something moderates from the opposite wing have said they will not support.

Given the government’s working majority of 56, a revolt by 29 Tory MPs, or 57 abstentions, would have been required to defeat the bill at its first Commons hurdle – something that has not happened to a piece of legislation since 1986.

The bill seeks to declare in UK law that Rwanda is a safe country to send asylum seekers to, and stop flights being grounded for legal reasons by allowing ministers to disapply sections of the Human Rights Act (though not the European Convention on Human Rights, which some on the right are calling for).

Moments before MPs started voting, a group of Tories on the right of the party, the so-called “five families” factions, said they did not support the legislation and the bulk of them would abstain tonight.

But they warned they will vote down the bill at its third reading if the government does not introduce the changes they want.

Mark Francois, chairman of the European Research Group, said: “The Prime Minister has been telling colleagues today he is prepared to entertain tightening the bill, with that aim, at the committee stage, we will aim to table an amendment which would we hope, if accepted, would materially improve the bill and remove some of its weaknesses.

“We very much hope those amendments will be accepted – if they are not and the bill remains unamended, in that way again, collectively, we reserve the right to vote against it at third reading, that is collectively what we have decided.”