Rishi Sunak is thought to be planning to delay his plans to push through emergency immigration legislation in order to get his Rwanda aslyum seeker plan under way.
The Prime Minister promised he would do “whatever it takes” to get planes off the ground and deport those who arrive in the UK illegally.
He promised two weeks ago that he would fast track new laws to end the “merry-go-round” of legal challenges in relation to the policy after the Supreme Court ruled the Government’s plans illegal.
No10 promised the new legislation would be presented to MPs in the House of Commons “coming days”.
WATCH: Rishi Sunak’s emergency legislation vow
But after discussions with Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick on Wednesday evening, it is now claimed that the legislation is likely to take longer than previously thought.
According to The Times, Sunak has decided that the legislation must not be rushed and should only be put to Parliament once it is “legally watertight”.
The publication added that the Prime Minister wanted to “get the legislation right”.
The developments come amid claims of frictions within the Home Office over how to best bring down the asylum backlog.
Cleverly has indicated reluctance to leave the ECHR after he urged people not to ‘fixate’ on the Rwanda plan
PA
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is at odds with the Home Secretary over the issue
GB News
While Jenrick is understood to be eager for the UK to opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for asylum cases, Home Secretary James Cleverly has made clear his opposition to such proposals.
“I do not want to do anything that might undermine the key co-operation we have with countries [who] are very wedded to the ECHR for understandable reasons,” he said last week.
“Nothing is cost free. Everything needs to be considered, the advantages and disadvantages.”
Tthe Home Office’s top civil servant said that negotiations on a new treaty with Rwanda which would hopefully be acceptable to the Supreme Court were in their final stages.
Permanent Secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft told MPs on Wednesday that officials are in the capital Kigali “as we speak” as they put the “finishing touches” to the talks.
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, delivering the weekly business statement said that emergency legislation linked to Rwanda will be “brought forward very shortly”.
