Any tougher and Rwanda deal will collapse, says Rishi

PM says bar has been set so high that challenges by migrants in court won’t work

- Nicholas Cecil 

 

RISHI SUNAK defended his flagship Rwanda immigration plan as it came under fresh attack from the Tory Right led by Suella Braverman.

He told them if he caved into their demands the whole deal with the East African country would “collapse”. But he stressed that the Government had “set the bar so high” in its efforts to stop the controversial policy being thwarted by legal challenges.

Mr Sunak held a press conference in No10 to respond to the crisis triggered by the shock resignation of immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

Tory Right-wingers including Mrs Braverman are calling on the Government to either pull out or sideline the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to toughen up its deportation proposals.

But Mr Sunak said: “As the Rwandans themselves have made clear, if we go any further the entire scheme will collapse. And there’s no point have a Bill with nowhere to send people to.”

On possible legal battles to stop deportations, he said: “I am telling you now, we have set the bar so high that it will be vanishingly rare for anyone to meet it.”

But the PM faced a fresh warning that the Tories could be hurtling towards “oblivion” with the risk of the party “splitting” amid the fierce infighting over the Government’s now “totemic” Rwanda deportation proposals.