Keir Starmer has mocked Rishi Sunak for the “farce” of his stalled plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The prime minister faces a crunch vote on Wednesday evening, when MPs will be asked to back his new legislation designed to finally see the policy enacted.
But he could suffer a signifiant rebellion from right-wing Tory MPs who believe even this new law does not go far enough.
Last night two Tory deputy chairmen, Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith, both resigned in order to vote against the government.
Speaking during PMQs, Starmer told Sunak he had been “brutally exposed by his own MPs yet again”.
“All them in open revolt against his policy, each other and reality,” the Labour leader said. “Is there any wonder they all think this gimmick is doomed to failure?”
Starmer also asked the PM what progress he had made in locating 4,250 people seeking asylum the government had “lost”.
“He hasn’t got a clue where they are, has he?” Starmer said. “I can tell you one place they aren’t and that’s Rwanda.”
Sunak told the Commons: “I have absolute conviction the plan we have put in place will work.”
The prime minister has made removing people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda a key test of his leadership in the run-up to the general election.
A previous scheme – first thought up during Boris Johnson’s time in office – was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court on the basis Rwanda was not a safe place.
In response, Sunak introduced new legislation which the government claims will overcome that legal problem.
But many Tory MPs believe the bill would still allow the courts to block people being removed from the country and needs to be toughened up.
However the prime minister also is under pressure from MPs on the more moderate wing of the party who do not want to see the UK at odds with its human rights commitments.