Nigel Farage arrives at Heathrow after appearing on I'm a Celeb – saying his personal poll rating has risen 20 points while he was on the show
Nigel Farage said the government was still headed for a “catastrophic defeat” despite Rishi Sunak winning the Rwanda Bill on Tuesday night.
Speaking as he returned to the UK after finishing third in I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! The former UK and Brexit Party leader said the government has “no idea what's happening to them.”
His comments came after the Prime Minister clashed with Tory rebels in his deportation plan from Rwanda. winning the first parliamentary battle over his emergency law.
The bill passed the House of Commons by 313 votes to 269 after Tory hard-liners on migration backed down, with no Tory MPs ultimately voting against.
However, the leaders of the five right-wing Tory groups that won name “Five Families”, have warned that they will try to vote against the bill unless it is significantly tightened in the coming weeks.
Total 29 According to Telegraph analysis, Conservative MPs abstained from voting without the permission of party leaders – potentially enough rebels to ensure future defeat.
Mr Sunak also faces the prospect of a rebellion from centre-left MPs, who are concerned the bill goes too far and have threatened to introduce their own amendments to water it down if the Prime Minister bows to right-wing pressure.
When asked at Heathrow about the government's problems, Mr Farage replied: “Well, it's nothing new. I mean, this government is in dire straits and headed for catastrophic defeat.
“They have no idea what awaits them next. And I think the last thing I heard before I went into the jungle was that Cameron was back… if it's that bad, they must be in big trouble.
And I see that he is about to break through the vote on Rwanda. But I mean it won't make any difference. No, they're in terrible, terrible trouble. And all Labor has to do is, frankly, not tear each other apart and tread carefully, and I think the election is theirs.”
Asked if he might go back to the Tories, Farage replied: “Well, did you see the poll results that came out last night? I'm just amazed by this, I've just seen some online suggesting that among 2019 Tory voters my approval rating has risen by 20 percent during my time in the jungle, putting me 21 percent ahead of Rishi.
“Well, this is all very flattering, a little confusing. It will take me a while to really take this on board. But exciting, right?
Spring flights 'plausible', says Cleverley
James Cleverley, the Home Secretary, insisted the target of launching flights to Rwanda in the spring remained a “robust schedule” despite the threat conservative rebels.
He said, “We have to get this done.” this bill through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This will take some time.
“We are already [accepting] preparatory work. The point is that we still respect as we respected the lawful Lords, their Lordships in the Supreme Court when they made their decision… we respect the parliamentary process.
“We are going to move quickly, but we are going to make sure everything is done correctly. We want to start flying next year, ideally in the spring, I think this is an acceptable date.”
Mr Cleverly suggested repealing the Rwanda Bill was not the “best way” for would-be rebels to act on it. concerns that the legislation is too weak.
When asked about European Research Group chairman Marc Francois's objections to the legislation, the Home Secretary told Sky News: “I will speak to Marc and I will speak to others about, of course, understand their views on the matter and try to gather their ideas to improve the situation.
“But I don’t see that anyone has concerns that the bill may not be as strong as we would like. Repealing the bill doesn't seem to me the best way to do this because unless the bill is on the statute book it can't succeed.”
Mr Cleverley was asked about the YouGov poll showing that only 1 per cent of voters believes the plan will work, to which he responded: “I’d like to prove them wrong. My job is to demonstrate that this will work as part of an overall plan that is already working.”
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