Rishi Sunak believes the government’s controversial Rwanda legislation is the “best thing we can get” to tackle illegal immigration, his deputy has said, signalling that the prime minister would be reluctant to bow to pressure from mutinous Tory rightwingers.
Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, said, however that the government was open to amendments and would “listen to our colleagues” to keep in line Conservative MPs who have called for the bill to be strengthened or face the proposed legislation being voted down when it returns to the Commons in early January.
He also defended Sunak’s claim that immigration could “overwhelm” European states after the prime minister was accused of adopting the “toxic” rhetoric of his former home secretary Suella Braverman, remarks that will further inflame the Tory row.
“We will listen to our colleagues about how we can improve this legislation, of course we will,” Dowden told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News. “I think this is a good piece of legislation that does the job, which is about ensuring that we control migration.”
Sunak narrowly avoided a large rebellion by rightwing Tory MPs after they abstained on his Rwanda bill, but the prime minister faces further peril in the new year, including from centrist Tory MPs who have said that any concessions to the right could mean they vote down the legislation.
“Of course we don’t rule out amendments and of course we will engage with that – that’s what happens with any piece of parliamentary legislation,” Dowden said.
“What I would say, though, is that the prime minister is a pretty rigorous person, he’s looked through this very carefully, turned it upside down, shaken it around, he’s pretty sure this is the best thing we can get. But, of course, if there are other ways of improving it, we’ll be open to doing that.”
On Saturday, Sunak attended a festival in Rome organised by the far-right Brothers of Italy party at which he said illegal immigration would “overwhelm” European countries without firm action, adding that “enemies” were “deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our society”.
Defending that rhetoric, Dowden said: “I think the prime minister is absolutely right to issue this warning, and indeed it’s not just a warning, it’s something that we have seen elsewhere – we have seen the weaponisation of migration, for example, in the conduct of Belarus in relation to Poland, there’s been warnings from Finland in respect of the conduct of Russia.”
He added: “There’s a broader point here, which is that we do have to reassure people that we have got control of our borders and we cannot have this unsustainable situation where we’re enriching people smugglers – the worst people on the earth – through allowing this trade in human beings across … the Channel, which is why we’ve introduced this legislation this week.”
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