PM: I'LL DEFY EURO JUDGES WHO BLOCK RWANDA FLIGHTS

Rishi Sunak urges Tory rebels to support 'toughest ever seen' migration measures

- Sam Lister

RISHI Sunak says he will defy the will of European judges and put illegal migrants on planes to Rwanda.

As he faced a turbulent 48 hours trying to secure Tory support for his deportation plans, the Prime Minister tried to reassure restive MPs his Bill will stop Channel traffickers.

But Mr Sunak was dealt a blow last night as Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson revealed he will back the rebels' attempt to force through changes to toughen the legislation.

Sources said that the Ashfield MP is prepared to resign from his prominent role to defy the Government.

The PM insisted he is "confident" the Bill would work, and would let him ignore any Rule 39 injunctions imposed by the European Court of Human Rights to block deportations to the East African nation.

He called his proposed Commons law "the toughest piece of migration legislation that anyone's ever seen", adding: "I won't let a foreign court stop us from getting flights off and this deterrent working.

"There's a clause in the Bill that says, very specifically, that it is for ministers to decide whether to comply with Rule 39 rulings as they're called. I would not have put that clause in the Bill if I was not prethink Strasbourg because of pared to use it.

"I don't [judges] will intervene, the checks and balances in our system. Of course, there will be individual circumstances that people want us to consider on the facts."