TORY REBELS FIGHT TO CLOSE MIGRANT LOOPHOLE

These amendments are needed to smash smuggling gangs

- Steph Spyro and Katie Harris

TORY rebels have urged Rishi Sunak to "close every legal loophole" that allows foreign judges to interfere with Britain's borders.

Ministers scrambled to quell a revolt among backbenchers ahead of the Illegal Migration Bill’s return to the Commons tomorrow. Channel migrants would be swiftly removed from the UK, banned from future re-entry and barred from applying for British citizenship under new legislation.

Up to 60 Tory MPs support an amendment to strip the European Court of Human Rights of the ability to intervene in UK immigration policy.

Jonathan Gullis, the Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said: “The amendments that we put down are simply designed to make sure that the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary can deliver on that fifth but important pledge. 

"That is to stop the boats by trying to close every legal loophole available to leftie lawyers and to prevent any foreign courts and foreign judges interfering in securing our borders.

“We feel these amendments are necessary to delivering for the British people and to smash the smuggling gangs’ operational model so that people do not need to needlessly risk their lives crossing the English Channel.”

Mr Sunak vowed to “stop the boats“ as part of his top five priorities, alongside halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt and cutting NHS waiting lists."

There are more than 50 pages of amendments tabled to the Bill which will see MPs examine it line by line over two days at Committee stage.

Backbench MPs behind a push to toughen the bill could meet government advisers at Downing Street tomorrow morning ahead of the vital votes in the Commons.