STANDING FIRM
Rishi Sunak insists he has ‘absolute conviction’ over Rwanda plan as landmark bill faces vote tonight
MPs will have their say on Rishi Sunak's emergency deportation legislation during a crunch vote in the Commons tonight
A DEFIANT Rishi Sunak today insisted he has "absolute conviction" his Rwanda Bill will stop the boats.
As the PM faces a crunch vote on the emergency deportation legislation tonight, he vowed to "get a grip" of the problem.
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At PMQs he told MPs: "I have absolute conviction that the plan we've put in place will work because I believe it is important that we grip this problem."
Hitting out at Sir Keir Starmer, who opposes the Rwanda Bill, he added: "I know he's always been more interested in what lefty lawyers have to say.
"I've even got here the textbook that he authored for them - and it's called European Human Rights Law by Keir Starmer."
The Labour chief accused the PM of not believing in "the Rwanda gimmick", saying: “When he sees his party tearing itself apart, hundreds of bald men scrapping over a single broken comb, doesn’t he wish that he had the courage to stick to his guns?”
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It comes as Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he's ready to refund Britain the millions paid to fund the deportation scheme if it doesn't end up working.
Speaking at the international Davos finance conference in Switzerland, Mr Kagame told the BBC: "If they don’t come, we can return the money."
The exchange came as the PM faces the fight of his premiership tonight after 60 Tory MPs, backed by Boris Johnson, rebelled over his Rwanda migrant plan.
Senior Tories Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith resigned before they were sacked on Tuesday, as they joined their colleagues and voted in favour of changes tabled by Sir Bill Cash and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
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Jane Stevenson also quit her role as a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Business and Trade to back the amendments.
The Prime Minister ended up defeating the rebels thanks to the backing of Labour and other opposition parties, which oppose the Rwanda bill in principle.
But the real challenge is expected later on, as MPs are set to continue debating proposed changes to the legislation.
The Bill will be put to a vote afterwards if it remains unamended and if around 30 Tory MPs join opposition parties in voting against it at third reading, it could be defeated.
So far very few Conservative MPs have explicitly committed to voting against the bill.