Tory deputy chairmen resign party roles as government suffers significant rebellion on Rwanda bill
Two deputy chairs of the Conservative Party have resigned from their roles after they both supported rebel amendments to Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill.
Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith both said they would support proposed changes designed to toughen up Mr Sunak’s bill, which seeks to declare Rwanda a safe country to deport asylum seekers to.
Jane Stevenson, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Department for Business and Trade, resigned from her role after she supported two key rebel amendments.
On Tuesday night, MPs voted on a series of amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill, including one submitted by veteran Tory MP Sir Bill Cash, whose amendment sought to disapply international law with regard to Rwanda being a safe country.
Politics latest: ‘Big’ Tory rebellion on PM’s Rwanda bill will cause ‘jitters’ in Tory high command
In total, 70 MPs backed Sir Bill’s amendment.
Sixty Tories, including two tellers who verify the count, supported the amendment, as did two independent MPs who were formerly in the Conservative parliamentary party – Scott Benton and Andrew Bridgen.
They were joined by eight MPs in the Democratic Unionist Party.
However, the amendment was rejected by 529 votes to 68, leaving a majority of 461.
Jane Stevenson resigned from her role as parliamentary private secretary to Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch
Among the names who backed the amendment were former prime minister Liz Truss, ex-home secretary Suella Braverman, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and the leaders of the New Conservatives Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger.
The result represents a significant rebellion and potentially spells trouble for the prime minister ahead of the third reading vote on the whole bill on Wednesday, when rebels may vote against it.
Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, Tory MP Mark Francois said the numbers “speak for themselves” and that he hoped the government “will listen and take stock” and possibly tighten the bill.
Mr Kruger, the co-chair of the New Conservatives, told the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge he was “prepared” to vote against the bill at third reading.
Warning signs for the prime minister
Tory Rwanda rebels have shown their hand.
They have been able to demonstrate their side is willing to go further than before Christmas – and that they have the numbers to defeat the government on Wednesday.
The question now is whether the government is prepared to risk a defeat by going ahead on Wednesday, or whether ministers abandon a plan to hold a vote in fear of defeat.
“I really hope that the scale of the vote in favour of the amendments that were debated today will convince the government that they really should adopt these amendments as their own,” he said.
However, in an illustration of the dilemma Mr Sunak faces in appeasing the various factions of his party, Damian Green, chair of the One Nation group of moderate Tory MPs, said he would vote against the bill if it was toughened up further as the right-wing rebels demand.
But, he said he believed the “high watermark” of the Rwanda rebellion was reached on Tuesday evening.
Mr Sunak had been prepared for a collision with right-wing Tories over the bill, which is aimed at reviving Mr Sunak’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda if they attempt to come to the UK via small boat crossings in the Channel.
The bill, which is designed to enable parliament to confirm Rwanda is a “safe country”, gives ministers the powers to disregard sections of the Human Rights Act, but does not go as far as allowing them to dismiss the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) entirely – a demand of some on the right.
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‘The numbers speak for themselves’
As well as the amendment by Sir Bill, MPs also voted on an amendment by Mr Jenrick which sought to make it more difficult for individuals to make claims against their deportation.
MPs rejected it by 525 votes to 61 votes, among them 59 Tories, including tellers.
In a joint resignation letter, Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith said they supported the amendments “not because we are against the legislation, but because like everybody else we want it to work”.
“Our support for the party and this government remains as strong as ever and that is why we are so passionate about making this legislation work.
“However, we fully appreciate that with such important roles there is also the issue of being bound by collective responsibility.
“It is with this in mind that we fully appreciate that whilst our main wish is to strengthen the legislation, this means that in order to vote for amendments we will therefore need to offer you our resignations from our roles.”
Read more:
Rwanda bill rebels – full list of Tories who voted for Cash amendment
Robert Jenrick ‘prepared’ to vote down Rwanda bill as Tory divide deepens
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “Sunak’s Rwanda scheme just won’t work – and even the deputy chairmen of his own party know it.
“Rishi Sunak has yet again been embarrassed by his own MPs.”
A Downing Street source said Mr Sunak accepted the resignations of Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith and added: “This is the toughest legislation ever brought before parliament to tackle illegal migration.
“This bill will make it clear that if you come here illegally you will not be able to stay. We must pass this bill to deliver what all Conservatives want – a credible plan to stop the boats.”
Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage might be polar opposites when it comes to politics – but they do have one thing in common.
The pair are both cutting through in a changing media landscape when attention is scarce and trust in mainstream politics is scarcer still.
For Farage, the Reform UK leader, momentum has been building since he won a seat at the general election last year and he continues to top the polls.
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Badenoch doesn’t want to talk about Farage
But in the six weeks since Polanski became leader of the Greens, membership has doubled, they’ve polled higher than ever before while three Labour councillors have defected. Has the insurgent firebrand finally met his match?
“I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but I despise Nigel Farage’s politics and disagree with him on almost everything,” Polanski tells Sky News.
“But I think his storytelling has undoubtedly cut through and so yes there has been a huge part of us saying ‘If Farage can do that with a politics of hate and division, then it’s time for the Green Party to do that with a politics of hope and community’ and that’s absolutely what I intend to keep doing.”
Polanski was speaking after a news conference to announce the defections of the councillors in Swindon – a bellwether area that is currently led by a Labour council and has two Labour MPs, but was previously controlled by the Tories.
It is the sort of story the party would previously have announced in a press release, but the self-described “eco populist” is determined to do things differently to grab attention.
He has done media interviews daily over the past few weeks, launched his own podcast and turbocharged the Greens social media content – producing slick viral videos such as his visit to Handsworth (the Birmingham neighbourhood where Robert Jenrick claimed he saw no white people).
Zack Polanski announces the defection of Labour councillors
Polanski insists that it is not increased exposure in and of itself that is attracting people to his party but his messaging – he wants to “make hope normal again”.
“I’m not going to be in a wetsuit or be parachuting from a helicopter”, he says in a swipe at Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.
“I think you only need to do stunts if you don’t have something really clear to say and then you need to grab attention.
“I think when you look at the challenges facing this country right now if you talk about taxing wealth and not work, if you talk about the mass inequality in our society and you talk about your solidarity with people living in poverty, with working-class communities, I think these are the things that people both want to hear, but also they want to know our solutions. The good news is I’ve got loads of solutions and the party has loads of solutions. “
Some of those solutions have come under criticism – Reform UK have attacked his policy to legalise drugs and abolish private landlords.
Discontent is fuelling the rise of challenger parties. Pic: PA
Polanski is confident he can win the fight. He says it helps that he talks “quite quickly because it means that I’m able to be bold but also have nuance”. And he is a London Assembly member not an MP, so he has time to be the party’s cheerleader rather than being bogged down with case work.
As for what’s next, the 42-year-old has alluded to conversations with Labour MPs about defections. He has not revealed who they are but today gave an idea of who he would welcome – naming Starmer critic Richard Burgon.
Like Burgon, Polanski believes Starmer “will be gone by May” and that the local elections for Labour “will be disastrous”.
He wants to replace Labour “right across England and Wales” when voters go to the polls, something Reform UK has also vowed to do.
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Is Zack Polanski squeezing the Labour vote?
Could the Greens be kingmakers?
Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, says this reflects a “new axis of competition” as frontline British politics shifts from a battle of left vs right to a battle of process vs anti-establishment.
Farage has been the beneficiary of this battle so far but Tryl says Polanski is “coming up in focus groups” in a way his predecessors didn’t. “He is cutting through”, the pollster says.
However, one big challenge Polanski faces is whether his rise will cause the left vote to fragment and make it easier for Farage to win – something he has said he wants to avoid at all costs.
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And yet, asked if he would form a coalition with Labour to keep Farage out of power in the event of a hung parliament, he suggested he would only do so if Sir Keir Starmer is no longer prime minister.
“I have issues with Keir Starmer as prime minister,” he says. “I think he had the trust of the public, but I would say that’s been broken over and over again. If we had a different Labour prime minister that would be a different conversation about where their values are.”
He adds: “I do think stopping Nigel Farage has to be a huge mission for any progressive in this country, but the biggest way we can stop Nigel Farage is by people joining the Green Party right now; creating a real alternative to this Labour government, where we say we don’t have to compromise on our values.
“If people wanted to vote for Nigel Farage, they’d vote for Nigel Farage. What does Keir Starmer think he’s doing by offering politics that are similar but watered down? That’s not going to appeal to anyone, and I think that’s why they’re sinking in the polls.”
A former paratrooper accused of murdering two civilians in the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland 53 years ago has been found not guilty.
Soldier F – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – was accused of killing James Wray and William McKinney during disorder after a civil rights parade on 30 January 1972 in Londonderry, also known as Derry.
The veteran was also found not guilty of five attempted murders at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.
He had denied all seven charges.
Thirteen people were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment on the day in question.
Soldier F did not give evidence, but the court heard about previous statements from two paratroopers – known as G and H – who were in Glenfada Park North along with F.
The prosecution said their testimony was direct evidence that the defendant had opened fire in the area.
Bloody Sunday Trust undated handout photos of (top row, left to right) Patrick Doherty, Bernard McGuigan, John “Jackie” Duddy and Gerald Donaghey, (bottom row, left to right) Gerard McKinney, Jim Wray, William McKinney and John
However, the defence argued that they were unreliable witnesses as their statements were inconsistent with each other and with other witnesses who gave evidence.
The trial was held in Belfast in front of a judge, not a jury.
Delivering his judgment, Judge Patrick Lynch said the evidence presented against the veteran fell well short of what was needed for conviction.
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Two people have died and five others were taken to hospital following a fire in Glasgow.
Emergency crews were called to the blaze at a property in Hughenden Lane in Hyndland at about 10.20pm on Monday.
Police Scotland said a man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene.
The force said their next of kin have been informed.
Five others were taken to hospital for the effects of smoke inhalation.
Read more from Sky News:
Paratrooper known as ‘Soldier F’ not guilty of Bloody Sunday murders
Three arrested on suspicion of assisting Russian spy agencies
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “The fire is not believed to be suspicious, and no criminality has been established.”
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