Rishi Sunak is under pressure to curb illegal migration. Photo: James Manning/PA
Small boats must be stopped before the Tories are 'destroyed', warns former Cabinet minister.
Sir Simon Clarke, the former Leveling Up Secretary and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, issued the warning on X, formerly known as Twitter, after The Telegraph published a poll showing the Conservatives were on course for destruction, as in 1997.
A YouGov poll of 14,000 people puts Labor on course for a 120-seat majority at the next election, indicating Rishi Sunak's Tories could hold on to just 169 seats, while Labor Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street with 385 seats.
Sir Simon, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said: “This result will be a disaster for the Conservatives and our country.
“The time for half measures is over. Either we deliver on small boats, or we will be destroyed.”
Sir Simon is among 56 Tory rebels who backed amendments to tighten Mr Sunak's Rwanda Bill, which is due back in the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday for committee and stage three consideration. reading on the floor at home.
The Telegraph reported on Sunday that Lee Anderson, the Tory party's deputy chairman, is also preparing to back the amendments.
His support would be a significant boost for the rebels given his the role of the party's standard bearer. former Labor voters who defected to the Tories to give Boris Johnson a landslide victory in 2019.
Although Mr Anderson is not a member of the government bound by collective ministerial responsibility, a vote against him would raise questions about whether he would be forced to resign from his party post.
The amendments were also supported by nine former cabinet ministers – Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Liz Truss, Sir John Redwood, Sir Jake Berry, David Jones, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Sir Simon.
That's enough to overturn Mr Sunak's 29-seat majority in the House of Commons, although it is unclear how many of the rebels will vote to block the entire bill if the proposed legislation remains unchanged when it reaches its third reading, due on Wednesday.
Only a few senior lawmakers, including Ms. Braverman, have so far said they are willing to vote against the bill if it remains unamended.
The split within the party over the bill is so deep that one senior moderate MP, Sir Robert Buckland, a former justice secretary, said on Sunday he would vote against the bill if the rebel amendments were accepted by anyone on the right.
< Writing in The Telegraph, Damian Green, chairman of the centrist One Nation faction of 106 Tory MPs, accused the rebels of "authoritarian" amendments that betray traditional Conservative values, will not work and could lead to the revival of small boat crossings . /p>
Mr Sunak has so far resisted calls for any changes to the Rwanda Bill, although Downing Street has said he is open to any “bright ideas” that could improve the legislation.
One key amendments introduced by Mr Jenrick, a former immigration minister, will allow migrants to bring legal action against their deportation only in exceptional circumstances.
This would limit such claims to “rare situations” where there is misconduct on the part of the decision-maker or if the migrant is unable to fly, for example because he is pregnant.
A Second Amendment automatic would prohibit the European Court of Human Rights from making last-minute flight suspension orders, known as Rule 39 orders.
The other two amendments would repeal the remaining provisions of the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights in cases involving illegal migrants.
Negotiations between the rebels and the government were expected to continue on Monday, although they did not. considered it unlikely that ministers would propose anything other than some tightening of the wording of some clauses or minor technical changes.
Government sources have indicated that they could consider tighter definitions of restrictions on appeals by individual migrants, but that unlikely. to satisfy the rebels.
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