Rishi Sunak’s new legislation designed to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been slammed as “partial and incomplete” by an influential group of Tory MPs.
MPs will be asked on Tuesday to vote for a bill which the prime minister has said will overcome legal challenges to the controversial scheme.
But Conservative MPs on different wings of the party have not yet decided whether to support it, raising the possibly of a humiliating defeat for Sunak.
Some on the right of the party are worried the legislation is too weak and will not prevent deportations being blocked by the courts.
On Monday morning MPs from the Brexiteer European Research Group (ERG) met in parliament to discuss how to vote.
Legal advice from lawyers acting for the ERG - published this afternoon - heavily criticised the proposed legislation.
“The bill overall provides a partial and incomplete solution to the problem of legal challenges in the UK courts being used as stratagems to delay or defeat the removal of illegal migrants to Rwanda,” it said.
It said the legislation was too “limited” to guarantee “the delivery of the policy goal of making removals to Rwanda effective enough to provide a real deterrent to illegal arrivals into the UK”.
“We do not believe that it goes far enough,” the ERG’s legal advice added.
While it does not necessarily mean Tory MPs in the ERG will vote against the law, it does suggest they will heap pressure on Sunak to strengthen it.
However the prime minister also faces a rebellion from the other wing of his party, with more moderate MPs voicing concerns the bill might already be going too far, putting the UK at odds with its human rights commitments.
It means Downing Street could be stuck in an impasse between the two groups.
In an attempt to win over backbenchers, No.10 said this morning it would take the unusual step of publishing a “summery” of its internal legal advice on the new law.
The PM has made the Rwanda policy a key part of his promise “stop the boats” in the run-up to the next election.
It would take only 29 Tory MPs to vote against the plan for Sunak to lose the vote.
Defeat could go as far as to imperial Sunak’s premiership and there is talk in Westminster of yet another Tory leadership challenge.