Tory rebels caved in over the Government’s Rwanda plans last night after a day of high drama in the Commons.
Rishi Sunak secured a significant majority despite a threatened revolt by the right of his party.
The Bill passed by 320 to 276, majority 44.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “We will do whatever it takes to stop the boats. And we have, of course, been making progress on that pledge, reducing small boat arrivals by over a third last year.
“But to stop the boats completely, to stop them for good, we need to deter people from making these dangerous journeys.
“This Bill sends an unambiguously clear message that if you enter the United Kingdom illegally you cannot stay. This Bill has been meticulously drafted to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges.”
Whips spent the day cajoling would be rebels as No 10 stood firm in refusing to make any concessions.
Tory MPs issued public warning to their colleagues that they would all be looking for new jobs if they shot down the bill.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer clashed over migration with the Labour leader claiming the government is a “farce”.
Mr Sunak hit back, telling his opponent: “It’s a bit rich to hear him in here pretending that he cares about how we actually stop the boats when he’s been crystal clear and said that even if the plan is working to reduce the numbers, he would still scrap it.
“It’s because he has no values, no conviction and no plan, and it’s back to square one.”
MPs then spent six hours debating attempts to change the Safety of Rwanda Bill but none of the amendments won enough support to pass.
Before the crunch vote allowing it to clear the Commons, rebel groups gathered in a committee room to thrash out what they should do.
Insiders said they were furious the Government had cosied up with the One Nation caucus of centrist Conservative MPs.
“Many colleagues deprecated the state of the Parliamentary Party and the feeling was that so many colleagues were out of touch with where the country was,” a source said.
“Lots of amendments will come back from the House of Lords.
“If the House of Lords chooses to send back amendments that weaken the Bill, amendments will be tabled in lieu that toughen the Bill.
“The Prime Minister is by no means out of the woods.”
A number of key figures in the rebel camp warned they did not want to bring down the government by obliterating the Prime Minister’s authority on a flagship bill.
In the Commons, Bob Seely, a Tory MP on the right of the party, criticised colleagues for living in “la la land”.
“We kill the Bill tonight, we can all go and look for new jobs, so that is what we are facing,” he said.
“On the WhatsApp group that we were chatting on about this earlier, one of our colleagues from the north east posted the idea that we could have a new Bill, that a new Bill would be written.
“I’m finding that to be truly living in la la land, because the idea that everybody on this side of the House would agree to a new Bill, once we’ve killed this Bill, is for the birds. It’s this Bill or no Bill, it’s this Bill or no chance – so I think we have to face the reality.”
Former home secretary Suella Braverman warned voters would not forgive MPs if they fail to approve legislation that helps to stop small boats crossing the Channel.
Mrs Braverman said: “This is our last chance to fix this problem. We have stretched the patience of the British people. But this comes down to a very simple but profound question ultimately of who governs Britain?
“Is it us, the democratically-elected representatives who have been directly sent here on behalf of the British people on a clear mandate and a clear instruction on what to do and whose laws are passed by a clear and transparent majority to which we can all be held to account at the ballot box, or is it an opaque fora, many miles away in a different country, distant, outsourced, foreign, which does not share our values, which has made decisions time and time again which are at odds with what the British people have indicated that they want and which has operated to undermine our public safety, our national security and our good governance?”
She told the Commons the European Court of Human Rights is “currently controlling this country’s ability to stop the boats”.
“We are being governed by a foreign court and judges who do not have our interests at heart,” she said. “The decisions coming from that court are stopping us from controlling our borders.”
Although the Bill has cleared the Commons it is expected to face serious opposition within the House of Lords.
Ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who was behind the rebel amendments, said European judges could scupper the Rwanda plan.
In 2022, the Strasbourg court granted an injunction, via Rule 39, which effectively grounded a flight sending asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda.
Mr Jenrick said similar such injunctions could emerge from Strasbourg that leave the UK Government “scrambling around” in a bid to resolve this unless changes are made to the Bill.
He told the Commons: “I don’t believe that our membership of the European Convention on Human Rights is sustainable.
“I think that will become clearer and clearer to the British public in the months and the years ahead, but that’s not the purpose of my amendment today.”
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said opponents of the Rwanda plan who do not come up with alternatives have “nothing to say about solving this problem”.
“Unless you’re prepared to do something that stops this trade in human beings… unless you’re prepared to do the innovative thinking, the out-of-the-box thinking, then you are a politician that has got nothing to say about solving this problem.”
