ROBERT Jenrick has quit his role as immigration minister.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that Jenrick had resigned.
“That has been confirmed,” he said after repeated questioning.
The MP made the decision after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected his demands to opt out of European human rights laws when reviving the Government's beleaguered Rwanda legislation.
In his resignation letter, Jenrick chastises Sunak's fresh bill not going far enough.
Considered to be well regarded among the right of the party, Jenrick's resignation will be especially concerning for Sunak - whose polling is now even worse than Liz Truss's - as he tries to see off a rebellion among hardline MPs.
Labour MP Chris Bryant asked Cleverly whether he could provide a reason as to why Jenrick had left:
“Can he just tell us, has he resigned because he thinks that this policy doesn’t stand an earthly chance of working, or has he resigned because he’s embarrassed that a British Government would actually put ministers above the law?
“In other words, has he resigned because he thinks this policy is crazy or because he doesn’t think it’s crazy enough?”
Cleverly replied: “His question is not one for me.”
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill states that it is the “judgment of Parliament that the Republic of Rwanda is a safe country”.
The bill says that “every decision-maker” – specifically mentioning the courts – “must conclusively treat the Republic of Rwanda as a safe country”.
It states that ministers will decide whether to ignore interim measures issued by the European Court of Human Rights which have previously scuppered flights.
Combined with the new legally binding treaty brokered with Rwanda, the Government hopes they can get the policy first announced in April last year off the ground.
It comes after the Supreme Court ruled that a previous iteration of the policy seeking to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was "unlawful".
Sunak later wrote back to Jenrick to tell him his resignation was “disappointing”.
“I fear that your departure is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation," he said.
“It is our experience that gives us confidence that this will work.
“If we were to oust the courts entirely, we would collapse the entire scheme.”
The SNP MP Alison Thewliss denounced the bill as "part of a march towards fascism".
