RISHI Sunak today scrambled to rescue his Rwanda plan from a growing Tory revolt at an emergency press conference.
The PM launched a high-stakes appeal for his MPs to back him - saying: "We've got to finish the job and I'm going to see this thing through."
He is trying to contain an escalating civil war after Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned over fresh emergency legislation.
With a parting shot, Mr Jenrick said the draft Bill to get flights going “does not go far enough” and is a “triumph of hope over experience”.
But speaking from Downing Street today, Mr Sunak said that was "simply not right" and claimed the package "sets the bar so high" hardly any migrant will be able to dodge deportation.
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The PM said his "patience has worn thin" over small boat crossings and his Rwanda plan will "finish the job" in cutting the numbers.
At the dramatic press conference:
- Rishi Sunak said the Government introduced the "toughest anti-illegal immigration law ever" as it "blocks every single reason that has ever been used to prevent flights"
- The PM insisted the difference between him and Tory rebels only amounts to "about an inch”.
- He warned euro judges that if they choose to meddle, he "will do what is necessary to get flights off"
- He vowed to "see this thing through" when he was asked if he would call a general election
- He also confirmed next week's vote will not be treated as a confidence matter
His emergency legislation unveiled last night will disapply some human rights laws in Rwanda asylum cases in the hope domestic courts will have to throw out any challenges.
While ministers will have the power to ignore Strasbourg judges who order removal flights are grounded, the new bill does not automatically override the ECHR.
Chucking out the entire Human Rights Act and ECHR from asylum policy was a key demand of former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, with Mr Jenrick also lobbying in private.
SU BOILS OVER
In a fresh blast this morning Ms Braverman turned the screw on Mr Sunak but denied the Tories have a “death wish”.
She told the BBC : “We don’t have a death wish. We need to stop the boats. And at the moment we are in a very perilous situation.
“The facts don’t lie, and we need to deliver on a key promise. That’s how we will win the next general election."
But at his press conference Mr Sunak swatted away her concerns this morning and reeled off a list of claims he believed the legislation achieves.
He said: "Let me just go through the ways that individual illegal migrants try instead. Claiming asylum, that's now blocked, abuse of our modern slavery rules, blocked.
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"The idea that Rwanda isn't safe, blocked. The risk of being sent to some other country, blocked. And spurious human rights claims, you better believe that we've blocked those because we're completely disapplying all the relevant sections of the Human Rights Act.
"And not only have we blocked all of these ways that illegal migrants will try and stay, we have also blocked their ability to try and stay by bringing a judicial review on any of those grounds.
"That means that this Bill blocks every single reason that has ever been used to prevent flights to Rwanda from taking off."
Mr Sunak today replaced Mr Jenrick with two new immigration ministers.
Michael Tomlinson will be the minister for illegal migration, while Tom Pursglove will take charge of legal migration.
He added: "Illegal Immigration undermines not just our border controls, it undermines the very sense of fairness that is so central to our national character. We play by the rules."
They will see some human rights laws in Rwanda asylum cases “disapplied” in the hope British courts will throw out any challenges.
Ministers will have the power to ignore Strasbourg judges if they order flights to be grounded — but the new bill does not automatically override the ECHR.
Within hours of publishing the planned law, Mr Jenrick issued a resignation statement that railed: “A Bill of the kind you are proposing is a triumph of hope over experience.
“The stakes for the country are too high for us not to pursue the stronger protections required to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme.”
Mr Jenrick, once a close Sunak loyalist, added: “I refuse to be yet another politician who makes promises on immigration but does not keep them.”
But the PM insisted Mr Jenrick had got it wrong.
TORIES MUST 'UNITE OR DIE'
He hit back at his ex-pal: “Your resignation is disappointing given we both agree on the ends, getting flights off to Rwanda so that we can stop the boats."
He added: “I fear that your departure is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.
“It is our experience that gives us confidence that this will work.”
Brexiteer MP Mark Francois called the resignation “deeply worrying”.
Mr Sunak begged Tory MPs to pull together and reminded them of his first appearance at the 1922 committee on becoming PM, where he said they must “unite or die”.
He added: “I have been unequivocal that we can no longer tolerate the endless scourge of illegal migration on our country.”
The PM is expected to face his first test of the new Rwanda bill next week when MPs will vote.
Some MPs rallied round last night, with Philip Hollobone saying the PM was set for the “mother of all fights” to get the Bill through and that his address was “his best yet”.
Fellow Tory Bob Seely described Mr Sunak as “super confident” and “very positive”.
Labour’s Pat McFadden said: “This latest chaotic chapter demonstrates why the country is ready for change. And Keir Starmer’s changed Labour Party stands
