Tory MPs have agreed to a temporary ceasefire over Rishi’s Illegal Migrant Bill following last-minute concession talks from Downing Street overnight. After growing fears of rebellion over the ECHR’s ability to block potential deportations, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick assured agitated MPs he would “engage” with their concerns for the sake of passing the Bill:

“I am certainly keen to give them an undertaking to engage with them and other colleagues who are interested in these points ahead of report stage of the Bill. We are united in our determination that this Bill will be a robust Bill, that it will be able to survive the kind of egregious and vexatious legal challenges that we have seen in the past, and that it will enable us to do the job and to remove illegal immigrants to safe third countries like Rwanda.”

Simon Clarke, Danny Kruger, and Jonathan Gullis outlined their four “tests” for the Bill in Conservative Home yesterday, with the leading rebels backing down last night on forcing a vote on their suggestions following Jenrick’s comments. Clarke told the Commons “our best and probably only chance to avoid this legislation from being entangled in human rights law is for this place to be absolutely clear and unambiguous about our intentions”. To that end, one would-be rebel told the Express last night they would push the issue again after Easter if the government “f***s us over”…