UK PM Rishi Sunak is facing a crucial vote on his Rwanda bill, after two Conservative deputy chairmen and a ministerial aide resigned to rebel over the issue.
On Tuesday Lee Anderson, Brendan Clarke-Smith and Jane Stevenson stepped down to vote for changes they said would toughen up the legislation.
In a blow to the PM’s authority, 60 Tory MPs backed rebel amendments.
No 10 is confident the bill as a whole will still pass later, but is thought to be preparing to offer concessions.
MPs are set to continue debating proposed changes to the legislation – which seeks to deter Channel crossings by reviving the government’s plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda – in the Commons on Wednesday, with the bill put to a vote afterwards if it remains un-amended.
If around 30 Tory MPs join opposition parties in voting against the bill at its final Commons hurdle, it could be defeated. So far very few Conservative MPs have explicitly committed to voting against the bill.
At least four Conservative MPs – including former ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman – have publicly said they are prepared to vote against the bill if it is not improved.
But it is unclear how many more could join them.
Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson confirmed the government was “looking at” new rules for civil servants that the UK is expected to ignore any attempts by international courts to block deportation flights to Rwanda, as earlier reported by the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason.
On Tuesday, tabled amendments to the bill – which aimed to prevent any international law being used to block someone’s removal to Rwanda and severely limit an individual’s ability to appeal their deportation – were defeated.
But they still secured significant backing from senior Tories, including former home secretary Mrs Braverman and former prime minister Liz Truss.
Mr Sunak has so far resisted giving in to the demands of his critics on the right of the party – and if he did, this could risk losing support among more centrist MPs.
However, in an effort to please some of these critics, the administration is considering amending the Civil Service Code to add a presumption that emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg be ignored.
The move is part of an effort to quiet the Conservative backlash against Mr Sunak’s Rwanda legislation.
Even a government triumph would have a political cost, with arguments over the topic revealing the depth of divides within the Conservative Party.
A substantial mutiny would also be detrimental to the prime minister, who has made the Rwanda policy key to his promise to prevent small boats from crossing the Channel.
If it is approved by MPs, the government still faces a challenge to get it through the Lords, where it is likely to encounter further opposition.
On Tuesday evening, Mr Sunak suffered his biggest rebellion since becoming prime minister, when 60 Conservatives defied the government to back changes to the bill put forward by MPs on the right of the party.
Labour said the resignations showed Mr Sunak was “too weak to lead his party and too weak to lead the country”.
“These resignations show that even senior Tories think that the Conservatives have failed and is yet more evidence of the total Tory chaos over their failing Rwanda gimmick – yet they are still making the taxpayer pay the extortionate price,” the party’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden, said.
