By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Rishi Sunak has been spared defeat after a key bill declaring Rwanda a safe country for migrant flights scraped through a Commons vote – but could face a future rebellion in the New Year.
A total of 313 MPs backed the Safety of Rwanda Bill, ministers’ basis for declaring the east African nation an appropriate destination for deportations, following a Supreme Court slapdown, while 269 voted against, giving him a majority of 44.
38 Conservative MPs – including sacked home secretary Suella Braverman – abstained on the vote.
It came after the Prime Minister spent a febrile day shoring up support amongst the Conservative Party, as opponents in the so-called ‘five families’ – a coalition of right-wing Tory groups – deliberated how to vote.
The European Research Group (ERG), the Common Sense Group (CSG), the Northern Research Group (NRG), the Conservative Growth Group (CGG) and the New Conservatives formed a block to urge Sunak to amend the bill to throw out more human rights protections.
However, they mostly later abstained, after vowing to push for further amendments later in the legislative process into early 2024 – and even suggested some could vote against the bill at its third reading.
During the Commons debate, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who resigned last week in protest at the Rwanda bill but abstained in the vote, said: “You have to interject the strongest possible deterrent and the best deterrent, the only deterrent, we can use in the course of the next 12 months is the Rwanda deal.”
While Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs: “We have had a home secretary sacked, an immigration minister resigning, and they’ve spent almost £300m of taxpayers money on Rwanda without sending a single person, and the home secretary seemed to confirm today in fact that its is £400m.”
Leaders of the One Nation caucus, composed of MPs in the moderate Tory wing, confirmed on Monday they would recommend members support the bill, “despite our real concerns”.
Chairman Damian Green called on ministers to swerve attempts to amend the bill in a fashion that would leave it unpalatable to those who believe in “support for the rule of law”.
One Nation MP Matt Warman said it was “in the national interest” and a “delicate balance between what is legally possible and what will make a real difference to this vital issue”.
The government has also announced new rules around legal migration, after levels soared to 745,000 in 2022. Skilled workers must now earn above £38,700 to sponsor dependants to come to the UK with them.
