Rishi Sunak news live: PM's popularity plunges to new low amid Rwanda rebellion

The prime minister has seen off a rebellion by his own MPs over the Rwanda Bill, but Rishi Sunak faces significant challenges ahead as he seeks to ensure the removal of migrants can begin, with the aim of creating a deterrent to small boat crossings.

The emergency legislation survived a vote at second reading after a frantic day of talks with potential Tory rebels aimed at avoiding a full-blown government crisis.

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Having survived a revolt over his government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda – for now – Rishi Sunak has been pencilled in to head to Italy this weekend, as a surprise guest at a political festival run by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Brothers of Italy party.

The appearance would cement a political relationship that has blossomed in 2023, centred around the issue of immigration. Both leaders have been under pressure to deal with the number of arrivals on their country's shores, and stopping the boats has become a central pillar of their pitch to voters.

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Less than 1% of people who have arrived in the UK on small boats since 2020 have been returned to their home country, new statistics reveal.

The numbers showed that when Albanians were taken out of the figures - as the UK has signed a separate returns agreement with the country - just 408 people had been sent home in the past three years, despite 109,117 arriving via Channel crossings, an equivalent of 0.37%.

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Alex Chalk indicated the government would not cede to right-wing Tory MPs by toughening up the Rwanda Bill by denying asylum seekers any right to appeal.

Asked whether he could reassure MPs and peers on Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights that ministers will not exclude people from bringing their individual circumstances to the court, the Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor said: “The prime minister and the government are of course willing to listen to sensible suggestions and insights. All of those are intelligent and highly able people.

“However, we do think that there are certain aspects which are important to uphold to ensure that we remain within international law.

“The reason for that is, as I say, one, because we think that there is a proper interest in UK supporting the international rules-based order… But not just that. It wouldn’t be terribly sensible, we would argue, to do something which might collapse the agreement because Rwanda would walk away.”

He added: “Of course, there may be differences of views, but we will also need to ensure that whatever sensible ideas come up, we remain within the four corners of our international legal obligations.”

The government is committed to “staying within the four corners of our international legal obligations”, Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk said as he was grilled on concerns around the Rwanda Bill.

Appearing before MPs and peers on the Joint Committee on Human Rights, he said: “This Bill has been carefully designed and carefully engineered to ensure, as I’ve indicated, that we can do what we need to do while staying within the four corners of our international legal obligations.”

He confirmed that even with the legislation, the UK will remain a party to the European Convention of Human Rights.

Chalk, who is also the Justice Secretary, said: “The central argument we make is that so long as there is the ability of an individual to get before the court to advance their points, which might relate to their own specific circumstances, plus of course section four remains, we say that that fulfils article 13 obligations, which means that we remain within the the convention.

“As I said, that’s something we’re committed to doing.”

Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill has passed its first Commons hurdle but will face further challenges in the new year.

The bill is to enable the Home Office to send asylum seekers who enter the country illegally to Rwanda.

The supreme court ruled last month that the policy was unlawful, highlighting that genuine refugees sent to Rwanda could be returned to their native countries, where some face persecution.

Read the full story from the Evening Standard

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak might have emerged victorious from a bruising vote on his flagship Rwanda migration policy, but the bitter divisions that risk turning his party into a "circus" mean any respite is likely to be short lived.

A day of high drama at Westminster on Tuesday culminated in a comfortable win for the government on Sunak's policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda after more than two dozen rebels in the party's right wing abstained in the vote.

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A Tory MP has come under fire for claiming immigration has turned parts of the UK into a “ghetto” and that NHS waiting lists are long in some areas because “people do not speak English”.

In an inflammatory intervention that drew comparisons with Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech, MP for Doncaster Nick Fletcher said his constituency was “full” of immigrants as he railed against “left-wing” lawyers who he claimed were trying to scupper the government’s Rwanda plan.

Read the full story from The Independent

News that the economy shrank in October has dealt a blow to one of Rishi Sunak’s five priorities.

But he may see hope that another of his priorities can be achieved after seeing off a backbench rebellion on his Safety of Rwanda Bill – viewed by some Conservatives as vital to “stopping the boats”.

The priorities have dominated the prime minister’s public appearances this year, after he promised in his new year’s speech to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut NHS waiting times and stop small boat crossings.

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Rishi Sunak has been ridiculed after it emerged he is now as unpopular as Boris Johnson was during his final months in office.

A YouGov poll published on Wednesday showed the prime minister now has has his lowest ever net favourability score of minus 49, a ten-point drop from late November.

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A procurement notice published by the Home Office inviting engagement from businesses for the future management of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats until 2030 is “not a commitment”, Rishi Sunak told the Commons.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour MP Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) said: “While the Home Secretary was in Rwanda signing his new treaty, his department put out a contract to manage small boat arrivals until 2030 at a £700 million cost to the taxpayer.

“Doesn’t this show that even the Home Office doesn’t think the minister’s plan will work?”

Sunak said: “(That is a) total mischaracterisation of what was put out, which was an advert, not a commitment.”

He added: “We’ve got the numbers of small boat arrivals down this year by over a third – that’s what we’re doing about it. The party opposite are voting against every measure that we’ve taken.”

Rishi Sunak will listen to suggestions for amendments on the Safety of Rwanda Bill, Downing Street said.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We will have discussions with colleagues, we will listen to any suggestions on amendments.

“Our focus remains on getting flights off the ground as swiftly as possible. That is what the Bill would enable us to do.

“The prime minister has been clear that, on the issue of people putting forward amendments, they need to be done in a way that is legally credible, has the deterrent effect and ensures the scheme does not collapse.”

Pushed on whether Sunak would entertain tightening the law in order to further limit the scope for individuals to appeal against deportation, the No 10 official replied: “I’m not going to get drawn into drawing lines about what we will or will not consider.”

He said the UK government would “listen carefully” to further suggestions that could help allow deportation flights to take off.

Sir Keir Starmer mockingly asked if the Conservative Party has seasonal “seasonal goodwill” in a Christmas-themed swipe at Prime Minister’s Questions (13 December).

The Labour leader aimed at Prime Minster Rishi Sunak in his opening remarks, saying: “Christmas is a time of peace on earth and goodwill to all. Has anyone told the Tory party?”

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Rishi Sunak “won’t rest” until his Rwanda deportation plan is working, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said.

Asked whether he was pleased with winning the second reading vote on the Safety of Rwanda Bill on Tuesday, his press secretary told reporters: “I think his view is there is a lot of work to do and he is very focused on getting on with that job.

“I think he will only be content frankly once flights are going off to Rwanda and the deterrent is there and it is stopping the gangs, and we can get the boats further down.

“It is a third down already at a time when illegal arrivals are up across Europe.

“He is encouraged by the work we are doing and the impact it is having, but he won’t rest until we have got this working and the deterrent is there.”

The Prime Minister has seen off a rebellion by his own MPs over the Rwanda Bill, but Rishi Sunak faces significant challenges ahead as he seeks to ensure the removal of migrants can begin, with the aim of creating a deterrent to small boat crossings.

The emergency legislation survived a vote at second reading after a frantic day of talks with potential Tory rebels aimed at avoiding a full-blown Government crisis.

Read the full story from PA

Transport secretary Mark Harper said prime minister Rishi Sunak will “continue listening” to Conservative MPs about possible amendments to his Safety of Rwanda Bill.

He told LBC: “All Conservative MPs want to deal with this.

“We’ll continue listening to colleagues if colleagues have got ideas about how to strengthen the Bill and improve it consistent with international law and with keeping Rwanda onside, who’ve made it clear that they want us to stick with international law.

“There’s no point having a Bill without a partner country to send people to.

“So, within those constraints, we’ve made it very clear the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister will continue listening to colleagues, working with them.

“Conservative colleagues want to try and get this done, so that we can start removing people to Rwanda so we can break the back of those (people smuggling) groups. Labour has no plan at all.”

Despite voting to support the Bill, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said he could always rescind his backing at a later date.

He said: “We always reserve the right to do what we have to do when we think it doesn’t work, my personal view is I want to see the Government listen and engage.

“Right now this was a very difficult Bill to get through, very contentious, it was the toughest bit of legislation concerning people’s rights, in terms of asylum seekers, that we’ve seen, and that’s because the crisis is big and many people are dying in the channel.

“It’s happening all over Europe – France is in defiance of the European court, sending people back.

“Denmark passed legislation to send people back, Sweden is doing the same, Germany is in turmoil, Italy is talking about defying the court – this is not just the UK.

“It’s part of the problem that all around Europe we’re facing, so this is the issue here on our island and we have to resolve it, otherwise it creates chaos.”

He said there were divisions in the Conservative Party: “Of course [there are divisions], but these divisions are about big issues and I think what the public want is a result at the end of this.

“They want something done – we made a pledge, Rishi Sunak made a pledge, to stop the boats, and we want to deliver it.”

Asked about Robert Jenrick resigning because he believed it it would not stop the boats, he said: “Well if you have five lawyers, you have 55 opinions.”

He added: “The Supreme Court made it very clear, they said once the Parliament makes clear their position in this then they will fall in line.”

Fresh out of his stint in the Jungle, Nigel Farage suggested the prime minister was still facing "catastrophic defeat" despite winning the crucial vote on the Rwanda bill.

The government has “no idea what was coming down the track towards them”, Farage said.

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Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called for a cross-party agreement on border enforcement.

Speaking after the Rwanda vote, she said: “We need both stronger border security and stronger action to fix the Tories’ asylum chaos that has got worse and worse over the last few years.

“We’ve seen, really, over the last few days the Tory Party civil war erupting, with different groups taking different lumps out of each other, and that chaos looks like it’s going to continue into the New Year as well.”

She said Labour will set up a new “returns unit” to remove people who do not have a right to be in the UK and stated the Tories had presided over a 50% drop in such returns.

Cooper also set out plans to create an international security agreement to share information on people-smuggling networks.

She said: “We ought to have a cross-party agreement on some of these basic things like going after the gangs, clearing the backlog, and getting returns in place, getting proper enforcement in place, but they’re not capable of doing that because they’re too busy taking lumps out of each other – because they are more interested in their civil war than they are in actually tackling the problems, and in actually doing a fair deal for the country.”

Home secretary James Cleverly has said he wants to continue to work with groups including the European Research Group (ERG) to “understand their thinking” after days of bitter division over the Rwanda bill.

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Home secretary James Cleverly said it was “absolutely wrong” to say that a lot of Tories do not want the government’s Rwanda Bill to work as he insisted the Conservative Party is “united” in its desire to get the legislation right.

He said: “We of course are more than willing to listen to good faith amendments that are designed to make the Bill better, keep it within the bounds of international law, keep it in a state that the Rwandans are happy to work with.”

Put to him that “a lot of Tories” do not want the legislation to work, he told Sky News: “No, this is absolutely wrong. The Conservative Party is united on the desire to get this right and to stop the boats.

“The Labour Party’s position is to try and wreck it.”

James Cleverly denied that the government’s Rwanda Bill would be killed next year.

When it was put to him that right-wing Conservatives would vote the legislation down, the home secretary told Sky News: “That’s your assertion, I don’t agree.

“It is part of, but not the only part, of a range of measures that we are taking.”