Ministers threaten to quit over Rwanda flights law

The Bill was announced as part of the Prime Minister’s plans to get flights to Rwanda up and running in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that the policy was unlawful.

One group within the Tory party, understood to include Cabinet ministers, is pushing for the legislation to stick to existing domestic and international human rights commitments.

Damian Green, a former deputy prime minister and the chairman of the One Nation group, said on Tuesday: “The Government should think twice before overriding both the ECHR and Human Rights Act and not rush such long-term, difficult decisions.”

However, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, has been pushing for the toughest version of the legislation, which would remove the right of judicial review and include “notwithstanding clauses” allowing ministers to ignore the Human Rights Act and the ECHR on asylum.

The Telegraph understands that one option being considered by Number 10 to resolve the impasse would give ministers reserve powers in the legislation. 

These powers would allow them to ignore ECHR rulings if the court attempted to block the Rwanda policy, but would mean the Bill would not state that this was automatically the case. This would be in addition to powers to disapply the Human Rights Act in asylum claims.

On Tuesday, during his first monthly question time in the House of Lords, Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said Parliament should be able to pass legislation that blocked ECHR judgments that the Government disagreed with.