Lee Anderson has confirmed he will vote for amendments to Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill amid speculation it could cost him his role as deputy chairman of the Tory Party.
The Ashfield MP, who was only appointed deputy chair last February, said he signed amendments put forward by Brexit veteran Sir Bill Cash and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick.
Anderson said: “The Rwanda Bill. I have signed the Cash and Jenrick amendments. I will vote for them.”
The announcement by the Ashfield MP will come as a major blow to the Prime Minister.
Sunak will come under pressure to sack Anderson for defying his orders to support the legislation.
Anderson is not officially on the Tory frontbench but is considered part of the payroll vote.
The Prime Minister refused to comment on Anderson’s position this morning, saying: “I’m talking to all my colleagues.”
He added: “I know everyone’s frustrated, I’m frustrated about the situation, and they want to see an end to the legal merry go round.
“I’m confident that the bill we’ve got is the toughest that anyone has ever seen and it will resolve this issue once and for all.”
More than 50 MPs from the right of the Tory Party could rebel over concerns the legislation does not go far enough in preventing asylum seekings from appealing their removal to Rwanda.
GB News understands that MPs from the two largest groupings of the so-called “five families” – the New Conservatives and the European Research Group – are due to meet tonight to discuss strategy ahead of the key votes on the Rwanda Bill tomorrow and Wednesday.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss and Tory bigwig Sir Iain Duncan Smith have joined Anderson in demanding Sunak tears up legal safeguards to stop migrants crossing the Channel.
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is seen as the frontrunner to replace Sunak as Tory leader, is also supposedly pushing Sunak to bolster the Safety of Rwanda Bill.
Sunak appeared to look to reassure Tory rebels earlier today by vowing to defy Strasbourg judges to get planes off the ground.
Speaking to GB News from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, the Prime Minister said: “I won’t let a foreign court stop us from getting flights off and this deterrent working.
“There’s a clause in the Bill that says, very specifically, that it is for ministers to decide whether to comply with Rule 39 rulings as they’re called, I would not have put that clause in the Bill if I was not prepared to use it.
“Now look I don’t think Strasbourg will intervene because of the checks and balances in our system. And of course, there will be individual circumstances that people want us to consider on the facts.
“But if you’re asking me you know, are there circumstances in which I’m prepared to ignore those Rule 39s? Then yes, of course there are.”
