‘Division will be punished’: Tory MPs urged not to rebel on Rwanda

Can Rishi Sunak persuade wavering Tory MPs not to vote down his Rwanda bill this afternoon? The European Research Group has already delivered its withering verdict: its so-called ‘star chamber’ of legal experts say the bill – which the government hopes will give the green light to send migrants to Africa – offers a ‘partial and incomplete solution’ to the problem of legal challenges being used to delay flights. The New Conservatives group has also waded in to declare that the bill requires ‘major surgery or replacement’.

Rishi Sunak is holding a breakfast meeting this morning to try and persuade his MPs not to vote the bill down. Meanwhile, heavyweight backbench Tories have been touring the airwaves to win over rebels.

Ex defence secretary Ben Wallace urged MPs not to ‘wreck’ the government by voting down the bill. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Wallace said: ‘The Bill is not a silver bullet, but it will make it more likely that some illegal immigrants are sent to Africa’. Former home secretary Priti Patel used an article in the Daily Mail to say that now is the time for the Conservatives ‘to work collectively’ and to ‘do the right thing’ for the British public. 

Meanwhile, fellow former cabinet minister Geoffrey Cox popped up on Newsnight to echo those remarks. ‘Division will be punished and there can be nothing to be gained by perpetuating divisions over this bill,’ he said. Will those warnings be enough to persuade Tory MPs who are on the fence?