David Jones, the deputy chair of the European Research Group, says the Rwanda bill is “inoperable and ineffective” without amendments – and that he hopes the government is “open” to them.
He adds: “The last thing we want to do as a House is to expend a lot of time and a lot of agony over putting in place a bill that doesn’t result in the flights to Rwanda and the deterrence that we need to illegal migrants.
“I do hope that my honourable friend will respond positively to this suggestion when he winds up, I know there’s a lot of colleagues [who] are going to listen very carefully to what he’s got to say, and I think that they will welcome what may well be regarded as a change of tone on the part of the government.”
Senior Tory urges backbenchers to ‘work together’ to pass the bill
Tory grandee Sir Edward Leigh has appealed to MPs to “work together” to get the Rwanda bill through parliament.
Addressing the warring factions in his party, the leading right winger warned his colleagues: “A house divided is a house that is going to be destroyed.
“We have to work together, there is no other solution.”
Speaking in the Commons, the MP added: “I hear all the different voices that are going on [but] the Society of Conservative lawyers and the Policy Exchange – not left wing groups – say this bill will work, the government says it will work, the ERG has some doubts…
“But we just have to work together to try and get this bill through, get it through parliament as quickly as possible, get it through the Lords and try and stop the boats.”
Sir Edward outlined the fact he would like to go further – saying he wants the UK to leave the European Human rights Convention (EHRC) like many of his right wing colleagues.
But, he added, the government “doesn’t have a mandate to do that right now”, and such a bold move would have to go into the next manifesto.
“This bill goes just about as far as we can do,” said Sir Edward, concluding: “We have to be realistic.”
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