Rishi Sunak dismissed dissent over his Rwanda Bill by angry Tory MPs as “debating society” behaviour and said he is working “tirelessly” to get the plan off the ground.
The British prime minister won a crunch vote in the Commons on his emergency legislation aimed at reviving the policy to deport some asylum seekers to the African nation.
But he faces further opposition to his Bill from hardliners and more moderate wings of his party when it returns to the Commons next year.
The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts.
That’s what this Bill delivers.
We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) December 12, 2023
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Mr Sunak refused to say how soon flights to Kigali will take off if he gets the legislation through the Commons and Lords, where it is also expected to face heavy scrutiny.
“I’m keen to crack on with it,” is all he would say when asked about timings in an interview with The Spectator.
Right-wing Tory factions 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, who are keen to protect the legislation against breaches of international law.
In a bid to pre-empt rebellion, Mr Sunak told the magazine that Rwanda will not take deportees who have no legal recourse to Strasbourg.
“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.
“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.”
Earlier, UK justice secretary Alex Chalk stressed ministers’ commitment to “staying within the four corners of our international legal obligations”, including by retaining limited allowances for personal claims against being sent to Kigali.
The legislation is designed to prevent migrants who arrive via unauthorised routes from legally challenging deportation to Rwanda after the Supreme Court ruled the flagship policy unlawful.
The plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda is a key plank of Mr Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.
Asked whether the promise, made at the start of the year, was a mistake, Mr Sunak said: “No, I think it’s a straightforward phrase.
“Everyone knows what I wanted to do. I do ultimately want to stop the boats, because there isn’t an acceptable amount of illegal migration.”
He added: “If someone had said to me, ‘You are going to have reduced the number of small boat arrivals into this country by a third’, after they had quadrupled in the last few years… I think someone would have said, ‘What are you smoking?'”
Right-wing Tories who rebelled by abstaining in Tuesday’s Commons vote said Mr Sunak had signalled he could consider “tightening” the Rwanda Bill.
But Mr Chalk said that while the British government is “willing to listen to sensible suggestions”, it must uphold “certain aspects” to ensure the UK remains within international law.
Appearing before UK parliament’s Human Rights Committee on Wednesday, he said the British government is “committed” to remaining within the European Convention of Human Rights, which it does “so long as there is the ability of an individual to get before the court to advance their points, which might relate to their own specific circumstances”.
Mr Chalk, who belongs to the more moderate wing of the party, added: “Of course, there may be differences of views, but we will also need to ensure that whatever sensible ideas come up, we remain within the four corners of our international legal obligations.”
