As hardliners pressed the screws on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the ruling Conservative party in Britain was in chaos on Wednesday following the resignation of its immigration minister over legislation pertaining to sending refugees to Rwanda.
The UK leader’s position looked increasingly vulnerable after Robert Jenrick said he had resigned due to “strong disagreements with the direction” of the government’s policy on immigration.
The bombshell resignation came after Rwanda warned that it would pull out of a treaty to accept migrants if Britain did not respect international law.
On a terrible day for the British prime leader, former conservative interior minister Suella Braverman also threatened to destroy Sunak in the next general election unless he became harsher on immigration.
Following the publication of emergency laws by Sunak’s administration to guarantee Rwanda is regarded as a safe place following the ruling last month by UK Supreme Court judges that it was not, Jenrick tendered his resignation.
Jenrick said in his letter of resignation to the prime minister that the proposed regulations were “a triumph of hope over experience”.
“The stakes for the country are too high for us not to pursue the stronger protections required to end the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme and negating its intended deterrent,” he wrote.
That was seen as a reference to Sunak’s refusal to take Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The bill proposes giving ministers powers to disregard sections of the UK Human Rights Act and ECHR when considering deportation cases.
In his reply, Sunak said Jenrick’s resignation was “disappointing” and “based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation”.
