Sunak saves 'in extremis' a decisive vote on his plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda

The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, managed to keep alive in Parliament this Tuesday his bill to deport undocumented immigrants to Rwanda, despite the abstention of members of the hard wing of his own Conservative Party.

The project gained the support of 313 deputies in the House of Commons in its second reading, compared to 269 who rejected it, but it still faces a tough road to its final approval, which is considered decisive for Sunak's political future.

The majority of 44 votes, larger than expected after five groups of the right wing of the Tories announced that they would abstain, allows Sunak not to become the first head of Government to lose a second reading vote since 1986.

The prime minister reacted to the victory via social network “let the flights to Rwanda go out and stop the boats.”

The bill – advertised by the Executive as the “toughest anti-immigration” piece of legislation in British history – aims to prevent the courts from stopping controversial flights to Rwanda to expel immigrants who entered the country illegally. .

However, for the most right-wing faction of the party, which promoted Brexit, the text falls short and should go further to prevent asylum seekers from appealing their expulsion in court.

The leader of the Brexiteer European Research Group, Mark Francois, told the media minutes before the vote that his group does not support the law in its current wording, so they were going to abstain, but that he will negotiate with the Government to toughen it. before its vote at third reading.

Francois said that if their amendments are not accepted “they reserve the right” to vote against the next time, which will probably be in January.