The Prime Minister has won his crunch vote on the Safety of Rwanda Bill after he pledged to “stop the boats.”
The Home Secretary James Cleverly has said the government’s Rwanda Bill will not be killed off by Tory rebels.
Cleverly said that he will continue to work with the European Research Group (ERG) to “understand their thinking.”
Sunak’s Rwanda Bill won a majority of just 44 as MPs approved the second reading by 313 to 269 and dozens abstained.
Sky News put it too the Home Secretary that right wing factions such as the ERG chaired by Mark Francois will vote against the Rwanda Bill next year.
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Cleverly said to Sky News, “That’s your assertion, I don’t agree.”
He added, “I will talk to Mark and I’ll talk to others, of course, to understand their thinking on this and try to harvest their ideas to make things better.
“But I can’t see if someone’s got a concern that the Bill might not be as strong as they would like, killing the Bill doesn’t strike me as the best way of doing that, because if the Bill isn’t on the statute books it can’t possibly succeed.”
Sunak said in a post on X following the vote, “The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts. That’s what this Bill delivers.
“We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.”
A Tory rebel source told PA news agency, “This Bill has been allowed to live another day.
“But, without amendments, it will be killed next month. It is now up to the Government to decide what it wants to do.”
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