Prime Minister Rishi Sunak put his stake in the ground over his Rwanda asylum bill in an emergency press conference at Downing Street on Thursday.
In the speech he called on his MPs as well as the Labour party to back the bill in a vote next Tuesday.
He emphasised the extensive detail included in the updated bill, to ensure it meets criteria set out by the Supreme Court, such as the safety of Rwanda as a country, and said his new legislation “blocks every single reason that has ever been used to prevent flights”.
It was a tetchy conference from the Prime Minister, who appeared exasperated by the ongoing saga around the Rwanda policy, and what he called the ‘merry-go-round’ of legal proceedings.
But his frustrations on Thursday may well have been sparked by a speech made by Suella Braverman in the House of Commons.
The former home secretary once again stirred up tensions with a speech in parliament on Wednesday, in which she warned that the Tory party faced 'electoral oblivion' if it goes ahead with Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda asylum bill.
Adding to the PMs misery this week was the shock resignation of immigration minister Robert Jenrick on Wednesday night, who said he resigned because he had “such strong disagreements with the direction of the Government’s policy on immigration.”
In this episode of The Standard podcast, our political editor Nicholas Cecil discusses how Mr Sunak’s future rests on the Rwanda vote next Tuesday.
Nicholas also explains why there’s disagreement among Tory backbenchers about the Rwanda policy, and calls it ‘astonishing’ that the Home Secretary was unable to confirm whether the updated bill will comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Listen above, find us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you stream your podcasts.
