Supreme Court decision on Rwanda could destroy Tory party, MPs warn Rishi Sunak
RISHI Sunak has been warned his entire Government is on the line after Rwanda was shredded by the Supreme Court.
His immigration plans are in tatters – as leading right-wingers tell PM his response is now a “confidence issue” and “existential threat” to the entire future of the Conservative Party.
The PM will address the nation as he insists he has a “Plan B” – but calls pour in for emergency legislation to tear up the Human Rights Act.
But a former Cabinet Minister said a confidence vote in Sunak’s leadership is now “very plausible”
And Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns warned : “I know six who have said to me that they’re putting letters in today, so that’s seven we now know about.”
A hastily arranged meeting of leading members of the right of the party was held just minutes after top judges gave their verdict on the deportation plan.
Leading Tories including Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Frost were amongst twenty-five MPs who gathered for the urgent meeting.
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Tory MP Danny Kruger, of the New Conservatives group said the Supreme Court judgement could mean the end of the party.
They want laws to immediately override the European Convention on Human Rights to be considered. He added the UK’s involvement in other treaties needs to be considered.
Mr Kruger said: “This feels absolutely existential for our party. We promised to stop the boats, we promised to take back control of our borders.
“What we have seen today is the court has overridden that sovereign decision of the British people.
He said the government must now “step up” otherwise there is “no reason the public to trust us again”.
He added: “So we absolutely have to respond to this in the most robust way possible.
“This feels absolutely existential for our party … if this government will not step up to do whatever it takes to do what the Prime Minister has promised he will, there is no reason for the public to trust us again.”
Kruger, who said current legislation wasn’t tough enough, added: “What he needs to do today in our view is announce immediate legislative action to give effect to the sovereign will of the public and indeed of Parliament.”
Meanwhile, ex-Cabinet Minister Sir Simon Clarke said the response from Number 10 could determine his future as it poses a fundamental question of “who governs Britain”.
Sir Simon Clarke says the PM’s response to this is a “confidence issue”.
He demanded emergency legislation to override the Human Rights Act, and warned anything less risked Sunak’s entire administration collapsing.
SUNAK FACING 'VITRIOL' FROM MPS OVER RWANDA
By HARRY COLE, Political Editor
IT wasn’t so much a defeat but an absolute thumping.
Not since Boris Johnson’s attempt to suspend Parliament in 2019 have ministers’ plans been so brutally shredded in the courts.
Suella Braverman revealed in her bombshell departure letter yesterday that she had been warning of this scenario for months, but No10 insisted they have a “Plan B”.
If that is truly the case they better get cracking on it asap because the mood in the Tory party ranges from despair on the left to vitriol on the right.
Rishi Sunak will address the nation later this afternoon, as his critics on the Tory right warn “this feels existential for our party”.
Hardliners warn that without some serious nuclear options – or what Suella described as “upsetting polite thought” – like reforming the Human Rights Act, the Government is fairly snookered.
Calls for emergency legislation to block the long arm of the Strasbourg Human Rights Court are already coming in thick and fast.
New Home Secretary James Cleverly – who has inherited the intray from hell – is doubling down today, saying “clearly there is an appetite” for the concept of offshore processing of migrants.
And the PM is also putting on a brave face, saying: “Crucially, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the principle of sending illegal migrants to a safe third country for processing is lawful.
But the problem lies in where are they going to do it?
Rwanda is out now, but it was the only country ministers had convinced with a large cheque to go along with the plan.
If the PM doesn’t have a backup country, its hard to see how his “Plan B” going to cut it.