Rishi Sunak to give Downing Street press conference around 11am amid migration anger
Prime Minister is seeking to regain control over his fractious party
Rishi Sunak will hold a Downing Street press conference on Thursday about the Rwanda immigration policy, as he seeks to regain control over his fractious party in the wake of Robert Jenrick’s resignation.
The former immigration minister sensationally quit his role last night, plunging the Prime Minister’s government into deeper turmoil.
In a sign of the deep concerns within No10, Mr Sunak will make a direct address to the nation at around 11am in a bid to counter the criticisms of hardline Tory rebels and spell out his plans to tackle the small boats crisis.
Mr Jenrick, previously considered to be a close ally of the Prime Minister, announced his resignation hours after the Government published fresh legislation to give it the power to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
He said the draft bill “does not go far enough” and is a “triumph of hope over experience”.
The former home secretary Suella Braverman has also piled further pressure on Mr Sunak, warning on Thursday morning that the proposed laws are doomed to fail.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Taken as a whole and looking at the reality of the challenges that are involved in detaining people, removing people and getting them to Rwanda – this is a very litigious field and there are lots of legal frameworks that apply – the reality is and the sorry truth is that it won’t work and it will not stop the boats.”
Tweaks to the Rwanda plan would not be enough to get the policy up and running, Mrs Braverman said, adding that the new legislation would still allow legal claims that could block flights and “clog up the system”, potentially for years.
“We can’t do half measures. We have to totally exclude international law – the Refugee Convention, other broader avenues of legal challenge,” she said.
Ms Braverman, who delivered a scathing personal statement attacking the Prime Minister in the Commons on Wednesday, insisted that Tory MPs do not have a “death wish”.
But she cautioned that the party is in a “very perilous situation” over the issue of immigration.
“The Prime Minister made the promise to stop the boats at the beginning of the year. We now need to deliver on that pledge,” she said.
Mr Jenrick’s shock resignation and Ms Braverman’s repeated interventions have fuelled speculation that Mr Sunak could face a serious threat from a growing right wing rebellion.
But Cabinet minister Chris Heaton-Harris attempted to play down Tory divisions over the Rwanda policy.
Asked if the vote on the Safety of Rwanda Bill would be treated as a matter of confidence in the Prime Minister, the Northern Ireland Secretary told Sky News that was a decision for the whips but “I can’t see why it would need to be because I think all Conservatives will vote for it”.
He also told LBC that he thought the chances of Mr Sunak facing a confidence vote of his MPs was “highly unlikely, very unlikely. I’d say vanishingly small.”
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