Rishi Sunak’s emergency Rwanda plan faces delays amid Cabinet split led by new Home Secretary
RISHI Sunak’s emergency Rwanda plan faces delays amid a Cabinet split led by his new Home Secretary.
The PM promised new laws and a treaty with Kigali to get flights off the ground after the Supreme Court this month struck down his original deal.
One proposal on the table — said to be backed by Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick — is for emergency powers to stop human rights laws being used to stop deportations.
Home Secretary James Cleverly and Attorney General Victoria Prentis are understood to oppose this, a Tory source says.
Mr Cleverly told The Times the flights are not the “be all and end all”, raising concern he does not back the Rwanda plan.
He also said leaving the European Convention on Human Rights — a demand of the Tory right — may hurt the fight against illegal migration.
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Tory Red Waller Jonathan Gullis fumed: “We made a promise to the British people to stop the boats. He would be wise to remember this.”
No10, meanwhile, had said a new treaty with Rwanda would be unveiled “within days” of the Supreme Court ruling.
However, that was 11 days ago — and now both the treaty and the emergency laws could be delayed until the week after next.
A Tory source said: “This is meant to be an emergency, they have to get on with it.”
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Mr Jenrick wants emergency laws to explicitly say the Human Rights Act and the ECHR cannot be used to stop deportations.
Talks between the departments are ongoing and the proposed law has yet to be sent to the PM.
In a further blow, the planned new treaty has been beset by hurdles.
No10 wants to send more Home Office workers to Kigali to take charge of the refugee and asylum process there in a bid to prove to the courts the system can be trusted.
But Rwandan officials say such demands are an “unacceptable” incursion into their sovereignty.
A government source said: “The most important thing is getting these planes off the ground quickly, and not fighting an ideological war.”