This is a difficult week for Downing Street, the Rwanda vote negotiations are a balancing act. Some sixty Tory MPs, including former ministers Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick, don’t think the proposals go far enough. Deputy Chief of Staff Will Tanner had the job of ringing around MPs this morning to get them to back the government. He is saying to recalcitrant sceptical MPs that ministers could commit to ignore all Strasbourg Rule 39 Injunctions (the Strasbourg Court’s tendency to to recommend interim measures in proceedings before the court – like grounding Rwanda bound planes at the last minute). Tactically this might see a planeload of unwanted illegal migrants getting onboard at short notice and flying out before the judges in Strasbourg could make final rulings. This seems to only be a dispatch box commitment for the moment however.
This comes as Sunak specifies today for the first time that he would ignore at least some Rule 39 injunctions – a question he dodged on the 7th. Tanner says he’s pushing on an amendment to block individual claims – something that would likely mean a load of One Nation ministers resigning. It is fair to say that Downing Street is stressed at the moment over the vote and this morning’s deliberately timed Telegraph poll.
