Tory tribes gear up for Rwanda clash

The next 48 hours could be among the most important of Rishi Sunak’s premiership. His flagship Rwanda Safety Bill will get its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with MPs expected to vote on it in the evening. But before that there will be a day of tense meetings in rooms across the parliamentary estate as various Tory tribes gather to discuss the Bill and whether they can support it.

Much of the attention is focused currently on the right of the party. A quintet of factions will meet at noon on Monday under the auspices of the European Research Group to hear the conclusions of its ‘Star Chamber’ of lawyers. They have already given the legislation a ‘thumbs down’ with chairman Sir Bill Cash writing in today’s Sunday Telegraph that the legislation is insufficiently ‘watertight’ to avoid protracted legal challenges by illegal migrants.

Such a conclusion is hardly surprising, given the trenchant criticisms of the Bill by Robert Jenrick – the man who, until Wednesday, was charged with piloting it through the Commons.