Rwanda bill vote LIVE: Rwanda plan passes first hurdle by 313 votes to 269 as Rishi Sunak staves off Tory revolt

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the Bill was a ‘step in the right direction’ but required work.

The MP, who voted for the legislation, told the Telegraph: We always reserve the right to do what we have to do when we think it does or doesn’t work.

‘My personal view is that I want the Government to listen and to engage and we will see where it goes.’

Commenting after the UK government’s Rwanda Bill passed its second reading, the SNP’s Home Affairs spokesperson, Alison Thewliss MP said: ‘This cruel Westminster Bill, which ignores the Supreme Court ruling and breaches international law, was not passed in Scotland’s name.

‘It in no way reflects Scotland’s values of compassion, humanity and upholding international law. Nor does it take into account that migration benefits Scotland’s economy and our public services.

‘That is why SNP MPs voted against it and tabled an amendment to try to stop the Bill in its tracks.’

Rishi Sunak will be happy with winning the Rwanda Bill vote, Conservative MP Therese Coffey said.

The MP for Suffolk Coastal, who was the former prime minister under Liz Truss’ brief time in office, said: ‘That was a solid vote. Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister should be very happy tonight.

‘It was important to get the Bill through this stage today and I think a majority of 44, any Prime Minister would be proud of that, especially giving the tensions today.

“It was important to get the Bill through this stage today and I think a majority of 44, any Prime Minister would be proud of that, especially giving the tensions today.

‘For the majority of people in this country, what they care about is the money in their pocket and economic growth.’

Asked what she would say to the rebel Tory groups who did not support the Bill, she said: ‘Just go through the detail carefully, and it’s important that the Government listens, and it’s important that people concerned about the legislation, on both ends of the political party, look at the details.’

Writing on X, the Prime Minister said: ‘The British people should decide who gets to come to this country – not criminal gangs or foreign courts. ‘

‘That’s what this Bill delivers.

We will now work to make it law so that we can get flights going to Rwanda and stop the boats.’

The Home Secertary, James Cleverley, echoed Sunak’s words: Writing on X he added: ‘Parliament has spoken. We must be able to choose who comes to our country – not criminal gangs. That’s what this Bill will deliver.’

The Rwanda bill will face more scrutiny in the New Year at committee stage, where further votes will take place.

A spokesperson for No 10 said: ‘Tonight the House has shown its support for the Prime Minister’s legislation to deem Rwanda safe and stop the boats.

‘This bill is the toughest legislation ever introduced to parliament. It deems Rwanda safe notwithstanding any other interpretation of international law and it makes clear that this parliament, not any foreign court is sovereign.

‘We will now work to ensure that this Bill gets on to the Statute book so that we can get flights off to Rwanda and stop the boats.’

Sunak has avoided a rebellion with no Tory MPs voting against the Government’s Rwanda Bill.

There were, however, 38 Tories that are recorded not to have voted.

Amongst those who abstained from voting was former home secretary Suella Braverman.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and former business secretary and COP26 Sir Alok Sharma also abstained.

Tory MPs who had been demanding tougher measures as part of the legislation announced only moments before the crunch vote that they could not support the Bill in its current form.

The announcement had looked to put the Bill in potential jeopardy and there appeared to be nerves in Downing Street, with climate change minister Graham Stuart flown back from last-ditch talks at the Cop28 summit in Dubai to vote for the legislation.

But the outcome proved more comfortable than initially feared for Mr Sunak.

The emergency legislation intended to get deportation flights up and running passed its first hurdle in the Commons.

The result came after the PM spent the whole day wooing wavering MPs, including one-on-one meetings, as he tried to defuse right-wing unrest.

With the clock ticking down to the votes, Mr Sunak was told the so-called ‘five families’ of MPs on the Tory right would continue to withhold their support for the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill.

However, it appears many of them did not reject the Bill outright, instead opting to abstain in the hope of amending the legislation at a later date.

Reporting by James Tapsfield, MailOnline Political Editor

Rishi Sunak will breath a sigh of relief after MPs have backed the Government’s Rwanda bill at its second reading.

There were 313 votes for the legislation and 269 votes against it. It means the bill was passed with a majority of 44 votes.

• Makes clear that in UK law Rwanda is a safe country
• It would order British judges and courts to ignore sections of the UK Human Rights Act
• Ministers will be given the power to disregard parts of the Human Rights Act which have been used to ground flights

Voting now taking place but not all MPs have the left the green benches.

Below, MPs seen on the left of the image are abstaining from casting a vote.

It appears to show right-wing Tory MPs including Mark Francois, Jonathan Gullis, Miriam Cates, Sir John Hayes and Danny Kruger.

Labour’s bid to block the Safety of Rwanda Bill at second reading was rejected by 337 votes to 269, majority 68.

MPs are now voting on the original motion, which is to decide whether or not to give the Bill a second reading.

The first vote was an amendment from Labour not to give the Rwanda bill a second reading. MPs will now go to their divisional lobbies to vote.

Pictured: Home Secretary James Cleverely and Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove listen as Michael Tomlinson speaks during the debate.

The ERG will not support the Rwanda Bill. Chairman of the group Mark Francois, speaking on behalf of rightwing Conservatives, said it ‘we cannot support the Rwanda Bill’.

Mr Francois said that his group and four other right-wing groups of Tory MPs have decided they cannot support the bill.

Speaking following a meeting he chaired, he told journalist that the group collectively decided it ‘cannot support’ the bill due to a number of ‘omissions’.

The majority of the group plan to abstain from the vote.

Mr Francois said that if the bill passess the group will aim to table ammendments at the commtiee stage in the new year.

As Rishi Sunak faces the crunch vote tonight, we take a look at the five familes of the Conservative Party and what they want:

A right-wing traditionalist group led by evangelical Christians Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger. Its ranks are drawn mainly from MPs first elected in 2019, with a lot of Red Wall politicians including Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson involved. was only formed in May but has made headlines agitating for a more hardline party that is tough on immigration, pro-traditional families and strong in fighting the culture war. It has called for a hard cap on migrant numbers.

An older Brexiteeer group on the right of the party which came to the fore during the Brexit years under Jacob Rees-Mogg. It played a key role in organising opposition to Theresa May and has continued to be a thorn in the side of the Government when it wants to be. Led now by Mark Francois it has convened a ‘star chamber’ led by veteran eurosceptic Bill cash to run the rule over the Rwanda law.

Another informal group on the right led by Suella Braverman ally Sir John Hayes and Sir Edward Leigh. In 2021 it backed a ‘Britain Uncancelled’ campaign with Sir John launching a blistering attack on statue-toppling, politically correct woke warriors, and demanded to know why Whitehall departments granted ‘huge sums of money’ to groups that were ‘entirely hostile to British values of fairness, open-mindedness, mutual respect and reasonableness’.

A group of more than 100 MPs on the moderate wing of the party. It has described leaving the ECHR as a red line for its members. It is said to be unhappy at the law giving ministers unilateral plans to brand Rwanda as ‘safe’ and over-rule human rights laws and may yet refuse to back the new law in Parliament.

A group founded by ex-Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry to represent Conservatives in seats in the north of England, many of which switched from Labour for the first time at the last election. Less openly ideological than some of the other groups, but regards immigration as a key issue for its voters.

Writing in the Mail today, Priti Patel said: ‘The choice all MPs face today is a stark one. To oppose the Rwanda Bill, do nothing and continue to offer succour to the evil people-smuggling gangs putting lives at risk and putting pressures on our asylum system.

‘Or to vote in favour of the Bill, work with the government to improve it through considering amendments, and ensure the most robust measures to tackle illegal migration are finally implemented in conjunction with the Government of Rwanda.’

The former Home Secretary added that now is the time for the Conservative party ‘to work collectively’ and to ‘do the right thing’ for the British public.

The European Research Group – an older Brexiteeer group on the right of the party which came to the fore during the Brexit years under Jacob Rees-Mogg – gathered for a meeting about an hour ago.

Danny Kruger, Mark Francois, John Redwood, Lord Frost, Miriam Cates, John Hayes all turned up for the gatheirng.

Former Tory MP Peter Bone, who’s just served a Commons ban for bullying and sexual harassment, has just left the ERG meeting. He declined to talk to reporters.

Mark Garnier has said One Nation Tories will ‘stick with’ Sunak and his bill tonight as long as the Prime Minister does not make any deals with those on the right of the party to toughen it.

The Tory MP, who said he will vote the bill himself, told Sky News he is ‘pretty sure’ Sunak will get the bill passed through its second reading.

He said: ‘We are slightly uncomfortable with certain elements of the bill but at the end of the day we are happy to support this bill as it stands.’

The One Nation Caucus is a group of more than 100 MPs on the moderate wing of the party. It has described leaving the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) as a red line for its members.

It is said to be unhappy at the law giving ministers unilateral plans to brand Rwanda as ‘safe’ and over-rule human rights laws.

‘At the end of the day, the legal right of asylum seekers, when it comes to those who are in imminent danger, those are going to be protected and that is important for people like me.’ Mr Garnier added.

Rwanda has made ‘utter mugs’ of the ‘chaotic’ UK Government, according to SNP MP Pete Wishart

The MP for Perth and North Perthshire told the Commons: “Hasn’t Rwanda played an absolute blinder? They must have seen them coming from thousands of miles away, soliciting hundreds of millions of pounds from this Government and apparently they’re going to get another £100 million more.

‘They’ve done all this without taking one single deportee. Go Rwanda, you have made utter mugs of this chaotic Government across the road.’

Mr Wishart said the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill might be the piece of legislation that ‘brings down’the Government, adding: ‘What a hill to die on – an obsession with immigration, an obsession with stopping these small boats, and by God they deserve to be brought down.’

Rishi Sunak’s hopes of seeing off a revolt on his Rwanda plan looked to be growing tonight as rebels baulk at prompting a crisis.

The PM has been meeting wavering MPs one-on-one as he tries to defuse right-wing unrest at his emergency legislation intended to get deportation flights going.

With the clock ticking down to the 7pm votes, some of the most vocal critics have been suggesting they are likely to abstain rather than outright oppose the law.

One former minister who has been pushing for the Bill to be bolstered predicted that it will ‘just about get through’.

However, hardliners have been incensed by the government’s tactics during a frantic day of coaxing and strong-arming.

One senior right-winger told MailOnline that whips were ‘winding people up’ by being ‘on transmit rather than receive’.

Welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog as Rishi Sunak tries to win over a set of Tory MPs ahead of the vote on his Rwanda Bill legislation shortly after 7pm.