British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looked set to defeat a major rebellion in his own party on Wednesday over his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, after a majority of critics of his proposed law decided reluctantly to back the government.
Sunak faced down the rebellion by right-wingers in his Conservative Party by offering only token compromises to those who demanded he toughen a new bill to tackle illegal immigration in moves centrists feared could breach human rights protections.
In the end, after a meeting of the rebels, a source said the majority of those attending would fall into line and back the legislation in a final vote – some worried if they voted against it could inadvertently collapse the government.
With the Conservatives trailing the opposition Labour Party in the polls before this year’s election, some lawmakers were concerned about rejecting a plan voters might feel could reduce high immigration rates – a crucial issue for some Britons.
“Everybody in the room was deeply upset with the way that the government have handled matters in recent days,” said the source at a meeting of some of the rebels before the vote.
“The majority though, of those people who spoke in the room, have decided to back the bill at third reading. A small number of colleagues will vote ‘no’ on point of principle, but the overwhelming likelihood is that the bill will pass probably quite comfortably.”
The vote, known as a third reading, will take place later on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the government comfortably defeated attempts to strengthen the bill that had been backed by almost a fifth of lawmakers from Sunak’s Conservative Party in what was the biggest rebellion yet against the British prime minister.
But he only won because most opposition parties voted against the rebels, whose action to try to toughen the legislation and close what they say are loopholes, has again exposed deep divisions in the governing party.
The high numbers of those supporting the changes had offered some Conservative rebels hope they could deliver an overall defeat to the government in the final vote.
But the government had confidently predicted it would win the vote. “We will get it through, but I’m going to listen respectfully to my colleagues this afternoon,” said illegal immigration minister Michael Tomlinson, adding that Sunak had promised to recruit more judges to process any asylum appeals.
VICTORY AT A COST
The likely government victory will come at a price – Sunak has lost two Conservative deputy chairs over his refusal to compromise and party divisions have only deepened.
Labour leader Keir Starmer used parliament’s prime minister’s questions to ridicule Sunak over his Rwanda plan, accusing the government of spending “hundreds of millions of pounds on a removals policy that doesn’t remove anyone”.
The government says it has paid 240 million pounds ($304 million) to Rwanda so far, and no asylum seekers have been sent there.
Yolande Makolo, Rwanda’s government spokesperson, said Rwanda had “no obligation” to return the funds but the country would consider a request for a return of a portion of the money if no migrants arrived in Rwanda.
Sunak has repeatedly defended the Rwanda policy, saying it would create a deterrent to those asylum seekers crossing the sea from France to reach Britain.
He will hope a likely defeat of the rebellion will offer him some breathing space to move away from immigration and tackle Britain’s flagging economy and offer voters tax cuts in a new budget on March 6.
But immigration is not likely to go away as he faces stumbling blocks for his Rwanda scheme which, if passed by the lower house of parliament, will next head to the upper chamber, the House of Lords.