Pressure piles on Rishi Sunak as Tory civil war erupts and Suella Braverman wades in saying Rwanda bill ‘won’t work’
SUELLA Braverman has launched yet an another blistering attack on Rishi Sunak saying his Safety of Rwanda bill "won't work" and "will not stop the boats".
The former Home Secretary, 43, made an appearance on the airwaves the day after Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned over the emergency legislation and plunged the Tory Party into another civil war.
In his resignation letter, Mr Jenrick said the draft Bill aimed at stopping small boat crossings “does not go far enough” and is a “triumph of hope over experience”.
Ms Braverman echoed the former Immigration Minister's comments but denied the Tories have a “death wish”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We don’t have a death wish.
“We need to stop the boats. And at the moment we are in a very perilous situation.
“The facts don’t lie, and we need to deliver on a key promise. That’s how we will win the next general election."
She said there are elements "that should be welcomed" in the new Bill, but added: "Taken as a whole and looking at the reality of the challenges that are involved in detaining people, removing people and getting them to Rwanda – this is a very litigious field and there are lots of legal frameworks that apply – the reality is and the sorry truth is that it won’t work and it will not stop the boats.”
Telling Tories yesterday to “unite or die”, the Prime Minister insisted the emergency moves he announced were the “toughest immigration legislation ever”.
They will see some human rights laws in Rwanda asylum cases “disapplied” in the hope British courts will throw out any challenges.
Ministers will have the power to ignore Strasbourg judges if they order flights to be grounded — but the new bill does not automatically override the ECHR.
Within hours of publishing the planned law, Mr Jenrick issued a resignation statement that railed: “A Bill of the kind you are proposing is a triumph of hope over experience.
“The stakes for the country are too high for us not to pursue the stronger protections required to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme.”
Mr Jenrick, once a close Sunak loyalist, added: “I refuse to be yet another politician who makes promises on immigration but does not keep them.”
But the PM insisted Mr Jenrick had got it wrong.
He hit back at his ex-pal: “Your resignation is disappointing given we both agree on the ends, getting flights off to Rwanda so that we can stop the boats."
He added: “I fear that your departure is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.
“It is our experience that gives us confidence that this will work.”
Brexiteer MP Mark Francois called the resignation “deeply worrying”.
