Rwanda bill passed by 313 votes to 269, a majority of 44The government has won by 313 votes to 269 – a majority of 44.
Rwanda bill passes through Commons with a majority of 44 – videoKey events
14m ago
How at least 25 Conservative MPs abstained on Rwanda bill as act of rebellion
1h ago
Rwanda bill passed by 313 votes to 269, a majority of 44
1h ago
MPs start voting on Rwanda bill’s second reading
2h ago
ERG chair Mark Francois says rightwing Tory groups set to abstain, but that they expect PM to agree to toughen bill later
2h ago
Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson tells MPs he expects hundreds of people to be deported to Rwanda in 2024
3h ago
Only 10% of people think government has done good job managing immigration, poll suggests
3h ago
NAO says it will publish report on costs of Rwanda scheme in 2024
4h ago
No 10 says government not ruling out changing elements of Rwanda bill relating to domestic, but not international, law
4h ago
Rwanda bill could make Northern Ireland ‘magnet’ for asylum seekers, DUP claims
7h ago
Jenrick calls Rwanda bill ‘sophistry’ because it will not stop European court of human rights blocking deportation flights
7h ago
Cooper says Cleverly has now confirmed Rwanda scheme will cost £400m by 2026
7h ago
Cleverly sidesteps question about whether minister could lawfully ignore human rights court injunction under bill
8h ago
Cleverly confirms that UK planning to give Rwanda a further £50m in 2026
8h ago
Cleverly says bill ‘pushing at edge of envelope’ but still ‘within framework of international law’
8h ago
James Cleverly claims government ‘is stopping the boats’ as he opens debate on Rwanda bill
8h ago
No 10 insists Rwanda bill is ‘tough’ – but says it is open to ‘constructive comments’ from MPs
8h ago
Former chief whip Nick Brown resigns from Labour in protest at ‘flawed’ handling of complaint against him
9h ago
Sunak must call general election if he loses Rwanda bill vote, says Starmer
9h ago
Asylum seeker on Bibby Stockholm barge dies
10h ago
Starmer says Labour would offer practical solutions to problems, not ‘performance art’ gimmicks like Rwanda plan
10h ago
Rwanda bill ‘inconsistent’ with ECHR, says parliament’s joint committee on human rights
10h ago
Rwanda bill – reading list
11h ago
Stopping all deportation appeals ‘not the British thing to do’, says minister
11h ago
Potential Tory rebels silent as they leave No 10 as Sunak fights to win support for Rwanda bill
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said tonight’s vote showed how weak Rishi Sunak has become. In a statement she said:
The Conservatives’ civil war is continuing, and the country is paying the price for this chaos. Today’s debate shows how weak Rishi Sunak is with this Tory psychodrama now dragging on into the New Year.
The costs of the failing Rwanda scheme are apparently rising to £400 million of taxpayers’ money, while no one has yet been sent and this scheme is only likely to cover less than 1% of those arriving in the UK.
They’ve broken the Tory party, broken the asylum system and broken every promise they have made to the British people. Britain deserves better than this.
They should instead be cracking down on the criminal smuggler gangs, setting up a new returns unit to reverse the 50% collapse in returns, and clearing the asylum backlog to end hotel use as Labour would do.
This is what Mark Francois, chair of the European Research Group, said in his briefing for journalists just before the voting started claiming Rishi Sunak has agreed to tighten the bill. He said:
We have decided collectively that we cannot support the bill tonight because of its many omissions, therefore while it’s down to every individual colleague ultimately to decide what to do, collectively we will not be supporting it.
The prime minister has been telling colleagues today he is prepared to entertain tightening the bill, with that aim, at the committee stage, we will aim to table an amendment which would we hope, if accepted, would materially improve the bill and remove some of its weaknesses.
For want of a better phrase, you might want to call it the [Sir Bill] Cash amendment, because he’ll undoubtedly be helping to draft it.
We very much hope those amendments will be accepted – if they are not and the bill remains unamended, in that way again, collectively, we reserve the right to vote against it at third reading, that is collectively what we have decided.
How at least 25 Conservative MPs abstained on Rwanda bill as act of rebellionAt least 25 Tory MPs definitely abstained on the Rwanda bill as an act of rebellion.
Here is the list of 24 Tory MPs who did not vote on the second reading, but who did vote against the Labour amendment. That means it is fair to say the all deliberately abtained.
Sir Jake Berry
Suella Braverman
Sir Bill Cash
Miriam Cates
Sir Simon Clarke
Sarah Dines
Richard Drax
Sir James Duddridge
Natalie Elphicke
Mark Francois
Chris Green
Jonathan Gullis
Sir John Hayes
Adam Holloway
Tom Hunt
Caroline Johnson
David Jones
Danny Kruger
Marco Longhi
Craig Mackinlay
Robin Millar
Jill Mortimer
John Redwood
Sir Robert Syms
And here is the 14 list of Tory MPs who did not vote in either division. It is understood that eight of them were paired, and others may have been absent for another reason. Of the other six, some, such as Robert Jenrick, were definitey abstaining to make a point, but others may have had another reason for not voting.
Rehman Chishti
Theo Clarke
Tobias Ellwood
Jo Gideon
Dame Andrea Jenkyns
Robert Jenrick
Julia Marson
Stephen McPartland
Caroline Nokes
Jesse Norman
Dan Poulter
Andrew Rosindell
Alok Sharma
Chris Skidmore
Rishi Sunak has posted this on X.
The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts.
That’s what this Bill delivers.
We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.
The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts.
That’s what this Bill delivers.
We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) December 12, 2023 The division list for the second reading division is now on the Commons website.
It shows that 38 Conservative MPs did not vote. There were 16 Tories who did not vote in the first division and most of those were probably MPs who had a legitimate reason not to be in the chamber (such as Alok Sharma, the former Cop president, who is at Cop), rather than MPs who were actively abstaining (such as Robert Jenrick).
That suggests the number of intentional abstentions was probably in the 20s.
No Conservative MP voted against the bill, the division list showed.
On the subject of the next votes, MPs are now voting on the programme motion, which says that the bill will be referred to a committee of the whole house (instead of just going to a small committee for the committee stage) and that two days will be set aside for the remaining stages of the bill to be debated (six hours each day).
It does not say when these debates will take place, but they are expected in early January.
The government won the first division with 337 votes. On the second division it had 313 votes, implying that only 24 Conservatives actively abstained.
That suggests the voting clout of the so-called five families may be less than Mark Francois imagines. (See 6.57pm.)
The working assumption has been that the Tory rebels would need at least 29 MPs to vote against the bill to bring about its defeat. Now there must be some doubt as to whether they have the numbers – although views may have changed by the time the next votes take place after Christmas.
Rwanda bill passed by 313 votes to 269, a majority of 44The government has won by 313 votes to 269 – a majority of 44.
Rwanda bill passes through Commons with a majority of 44 – videoThe division list also shows five independent MPs and one Reclaim MP all voting with the government on the Labour amendment. They are all either ex-Conservative MPs or Tories suspended from the party.
The division list for the first vote is now available on the Commons website.
Here is the page showing MPs who did not vote, including 16 Tory MPs and eight Labour MPs. Presumably the eight Labour MPs are people who are authorised to be away.
From Sky’s Beth Rigby
On how many abstentions, source from the right involved in the meeting: ‘there were more than 40 MPs in room and collective view was abstain. Not all in the room and not everyone will agree’…..
On how many abstentions, source from the right involved in the meeting: ‘there were more than 40 MPs in room and collective view was abstain. Not all in the room and not everyone will agree’…..
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) December 12, 2023 Here is a screenshot showing some of the Tory MPs who have been visibly abstaining in the division.
Christopher Hope from GB News says there are about 100 Conservative MPs in the the so-called five families of rightwing Tory groups. The government has a working majority of 56 and so if 57 MPs abstained, the government should be on course to lose.
Sources tell me there are 100 Conservative MPs in the ‘five families’. If they all abstain the Government loses the Rwanda Bill tonight.
NEW
Sources tell me there are 100 Conservative MPs in the “five families”. If they all abstain the Government loses the Rwanda Bill tonight.
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) December 12, 2023But it is worth pointing out:
a) These figures are not confirmed. Some of the five groups – the ERG, New Conservatives, the Common Sense Group, the Conservative Growth Group and the Northern Research Group – are quite cagey about how many members they have, and there is considerable overlap.
b) There is no record of the five families effectively whipping all their members en bloc. During most of the big Brexit debates the ERG did operate as a party within a party, and members voted with the ERG line in a disciplined way. But towards the end the ERG split, and unity broke down. The other groups have not tried operating whipping operations akin to the ERG’s in 2019.
c) Francois and his colleagues clearly expect the bill to pass tonight, because they are talking about amending it – and, indeed, looking forward to doing so. If the bill falls tonight, then the chances of parliament passing any Rwanda legislation before an election are minimal.