Rishi Sunak Wants Rwanda Flights To Take Off By Spring Despite Deep Tory Divisions

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted that the government plans on getting flights to Rwanda off the ground by spring, despite the ongoing divisions in his own party and the possibility that the government could be defeated on its landmark Rwanda Bill.

In the Commons on Tuesday, MPs are debating amendments to the contentious Bill, which have the aim of “toughening” it and blocking international human rights laws. Some of the amendments are intended to remove the ability of individual asylum-seekers to use suspensive claims, for example medical fitness to travel, to block their own removal to Rwanda.

Asked whether the government still planned to carry out the delayed scheme by spring, the prime minister's spokesman said “it is”, and added that it will "listen if people want to put forward a legal position as relates to their amendments".

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has urged MPs to support his controversial amendments to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, which "narrow" the conditions that can prevent asylum seekers being removed, as the legislation returns to the House of Commons.

Jenrick resigned as a minister in December over the legislation, saying "stronger protections" against illegal migration were needed than those proposed by the government.

"All my experience at the Home Office teaches me that every single illegal migrant coming to this country will try every possible way to avoid being removed," he told the Commons on Tuesday.

"We know that that's what they do today. It's human nature that people would do this. You have to legislate for human nature, not against it. And every legal representative and lefty lawyer will try everything they can to support those claims."

Urging MPs to support