British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing off against a conservative rebellion over his controversial Rwanda asylum plan as two Tories quit after a vote.
Sunak's controversial and expensive immigration policy was the center point of his attempts to win an election this year. However, to do so successfully, he must unite the Conservatives, who trail far behind the Labour opposition in opinion polls.
However, the liberal and authoritarian wings of the Conservatives are at loggerheads over Sunak's Rwanda asylum plan. Moderates expressed concern that the new immigration policy is too extreme, while many on the party's powerful right-wing did not think it would go far enough to deter migration in the United Kingdom.
Two of the party's deputy chairmen joined calls to toughen up the British government's flagship Safety of Rwanda Bill in the House of Commons. These were Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith.
They announced that they were quitting their posts on Tuesday to support amendments that seek to shut down asylum-seekers avenues of appeal against deportation to Rwanda by closing loopholes and sidelining judges, as per the Associated Press.
However, those amendments did not pass in the House of Commons on Tuesday, as roughly 60 Tories joined the rebellion. A bigger challenge for the prime minister will be on Wednesday when lawmakers will vote on the bill.
Some Conservative rebel officials said they would oppose the legislation if it was not strengthened. Along with opposition party votes, there might be enough support to kill the legislation altogether, which would deal a major blow to Sunak's authority and potentially fatal to the Rwanda asylum plan.
One of the rebels, former Cabinet minister Simon Clarke, said he would vote against Sunak's Rwanda bill if the legislation were not amended. Other Conservative lawmakers could also become hesitant to kill the prime minister's signature policy, which could trigger panic decisions to replace him or even a snap election.
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Facing Against the Opposition
Following the vote, Anderson noted that he could no longer continue his role while fundamentally disagreed with Sunak's bill. He added that he cannot be in a position to vote for something that he does not believe in, according to The Guardian.
Despite the growing number of opposing lawmakers, there was little sign of panic from Sunak's administration. Insiders from the government suggested that the right-wing bloc did not yet have the needed numbers to inflict a potentially fatal blow to the prime minister's bill.
The Conservative rebels included former home secretary Suella Braverman, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, and former Prime Minister Liz Truss. Jane Stevenson also resigned after voting against the party whip.
Critics of Sunak's bill fear that there could be so many appeals, which can take up to two years to be heard, that the prime minister's plan will never get off the ground. Such a development could make Sunak's "stop the boats" pledge look hollow.
On the other hand, ministers argued that they would speed up the appeals process by drafting in scores of judges to hear cases, implying that they expect many appeals to take place. However, since the backlog in the justice system is causing delays of trials amounting to years, this is highly unlikely, said the Telegraph.
