Rishi Sunak faces Tory meltdown on Rwanda plan: Ministers vow emergency legislation due tomorrow will be ‘watertight’ as centrist MPs threaten revolt if it ignores human rights rules – but right wing says PM must be tougher

Rishi Sunak is facing a Tory pincer movement as he prepares to unveil emergency legislation on the Rwanda plan.

The PM is walking a tightrope between warring wings of his party over whether to waive human rights rules to get deportation flights running.

He is expected to try to fudge the issue with what is being described as a ‘semi-skimmed’ option – stopping short of exempting the policy from the jurisdiction of European courts.

But centrist MPs are threatening to revolt against the law – due to be published tomorrow – if it goes too far in watering down international commitments.

And right-wingers will be furious if he does not take tough action, warning that failure to get the Channel boats crisis under control will cost the Conservatives the election.

Touring broadcast studios this morning, policing minister Chris Philp said the legislation would appear within ‘days’ and will do ‘whatever it takes to make sure that the Rwanda scheme is legally watertight and doesn’t get unpicked by the courts’. 

Rishi Sunak (pictured taking Cabinet yesterday) is facing a Tory pincer movement as he prepares to unveil emergency legislation on the Rwanda plan

Channel migrants are brought ashore in Kent over the weekend

Touring broadcast studios this morning, policing minister Chris Philp said the legislation would appear within ‘days’ and will do ‘whatever it takes to make sure that the Rwanda scheme is legally watertight and doesn’t get unpicked by the courts’

Tory moderates said last night that they have received ‘assurances’ the PM will not proceed with the most radical option for resolving the stand-off with the Supreme Court over the flagship Rwanda scheme.

Mr Sunak has been examining the so-called ‘full-fat’ plan that would carve out the Rwanda scheme from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as advocated by many on the Tory Right.

Instead Mr Sunak is thought to be leaning towards a ‘semi-skimmed’ version of the legislation which could override the UK’s Human Rights Act but not the ECHR. This could limit legal challenges but leave open a right of appeal to Strasbourg.

A ‘skimmed’ version of the deal would simply see Parliament declare that, in the light of the new treaty signed with Rwanda yesterday, the African nation is a safe country to send migrants.

Downing Street insisted ‘no final decisions’ had been made on the legislation, which could be published as soon as tomorrow.

A source insisted the final legislative package would be ‘tough’. But a leading Tory moderate told the Mail No 10 had yesterday given private assurances that plans for setting aside the ECHR had been ‘dropped’.

The former Cabinet minister said: ‘There are people on the Right of the party shouting that we have to do this and the PM has flirted with it, but it is not necessary. 

‘It would not work and it now looks like it is not going to happen, which is a great relief and which makes it more likely we will actually get these flights going.’

Mr Sunak is understood to have been influenced by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, who ignored ECHR rulings on prisoner voting for years without leaving it.

The former prime minister told peers yesterday: ‘There are occasions when the ECHR makes judgments as they did on the issue of prisoner votes when they said that it was absolutely essential that we legislated to give prisons the vote.

‘And I said I didn’t think that was the case, I think that should be settled by Houses of Parliament, and the ECHR backed down. So that sort of flexibility may well be necessary in the future.’

A Whitehall source said Mr Sunak was focused on what will work rather than ‘crowd pleasing’.

Supporters of the ‘full-fat’ plan, who include former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, argue it is the only way to guarantee the scheme is not subject to further debilitating legal challenges and ensure the first deportation flights take off before the next election.

Home Secretary James Cleverly was in Rwanda yesterday to seal a new treaty with his counterpart Vincent Biruta

But opponents, said to include senior Cabinet ministers, have warned the plan would damage the country’s international standing and put the Government on a collision course with judges who could block a new law, killing off hope of Rwanda flights next year.

Damian Green, who served as Theresa May’s deputy, said overriding the ECHR would be ‘the wrong thing to do’ and make it ‘pretty much impossible’ to get the legislation through the House of Lords.

Mr Green said the Government should ‘think twice’ before trying to limit the application of the ECHR or the Human Rights Act. 

Tory whips have warned as many as ten ministers could resign if the Government tries to override the ECHR, including Attorney General Victoria Prentis and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk.

But MPs on the Tory Right signalled they would continue to press for a ‘full fat’ option. 

Dozens are said to be ready to back an amendment to the legislation on the ECHR if Mr Sunak drops the plan. 

Mark Francois, of the European Research Group of Tory MPs, last night said the group’s lawyers would look for ‘unambiguous wording’ in the new plan that will ensure deportation flights can take place next year before backing it.

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