Sunak to mark ‘major step’ in plan to ‘stop the boats’ with press conference after Rwanda bill survives rebellion

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will hold a press conference at 10am after his controversial Rwanda bill passed its latest stage in parliament – despite rebellions from his own backbenchers.

The legislation – which aims to deter asylum seekers from making small boat crossings by threatening deportation to the African nation – passed its third reading in the Commons last night with a majority of 44.

But 11 Tory MPs, including former ministers Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick, voted against the bill after days of attempts by a larger group of right-wing Conservatives to toughen up the law with their own amendments.

A further 18 Tory MPs abstained from the vote.

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PM to give press conference after Rwanda row

The plan will now head to the Lords for further scrutiny, and is expected to face additional criticism from peers on all sides of the chamber, with a Tory source saying the prime minister was “by no means out of the woods”.

One Conservative frontbench peer told Sky News the government would be “thoroughly beaten” over the Rwanda scheme, adding: “The bill will only be weakened [by the Lords] and that will just throw more grenades onto the green carpets [of the Commons].”

But a Number 10 spokesman said the passing of the bill by MPs “marks a major step in our plan to stop the boats”.

This latest piece of legislation attempting to get the Rwanda scheme off the ground came as a response to the UK’s Supreme Court, who ruled the plan was “unlawful” late last year.

To address the court’s concerns, the bill designates Rwanda as a “safe country”, and it gives ministers the powers to disregard sections of the Human Rights Act to ensure deportation flights get off the ground.

But it does not go as far as allowing them to dismiss interventions from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) entirely – a demand of some on the right.

The government offered limited concessions to rebels over the course of the week in an attempt to keep them on side – including an increase in judges to handle appeals and changes to the civil service code.

But Mr Sunak also had to prevent a possible rebellion from more centrist Tories, who believe going any further would threaten the UK’s international legal obligations on human rights, as well as ensuring the Rwandan government remained content with the proposals.

While some of the prominent figures publicly arguing against the bill fell into line when the crunch vote came late last night – including two MPs who resigned their party posts in order to back rebel amendments – others were willing to vote against the government.

Ms Braverman, who was fired as home secretary in Mr Sunak’s last reshuffle, posted on X that the Rwanda bill would “not stop the boats” in its current form and “leaves us exposed to litigation and the Strasbourg court”.

She added: “I engaged with the government to fix it but no changes were made. I could not vote for yet another law destined to fail.”

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Home Office minister Chris Philp told Sky News the rebels had “sincerely held views on how the bill could be strengthened” and were “perfectly entitled to put their ideas forward and to vote for them as they did”.

But he pointed out that when it came to the “critical vote” to move the legislation on, the majority backed the government.

“This is a critical government policy and a critical government pledge,” he added. “The government has a plan, a plan on the economy, a plan on immigration.

“We are delivering that plan. We’re going to stick with that plan and it’s going to work.”

Mr Philp also denied the internal party row was taking up all the prime minister’s time, telling Kay Burley Mr Sunak “can walk and chew gum at the same time”.