RISHI Sunak looks set to WIN tonight’s make-or-break Rwanda vote after a Tory revolt fizzled out.
Most of the rightwingers threatening to oppose the PM have reluctantly agreed to back him rather than torpedo the entire plan.
A small rump of hardline Conservatives – believed to include Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick – will vote against it.
But following a meeting of the “Five Families” caucus of Tory rebels, a source said Mr Sunak should now “comfortably” win.
It means – despite days of Westminster drama – the PM is on course to ram the Rwanda Bill through the final Commons hurdle tonight.
But he now faces a fresh fight with peers already threatening to rip apart the deportation scheme in the House of Lords.
After a week of Tory hardliners demanding the Bill be toughened up to head off relentless migrant legal challenges, Mr Sunak’s gamble that most would fall into line paid off.
He emerged tonight having made few concessions to the rebels, except for pledges to defy European judges and civil servants.
A 60-strong revolt of Conservative backbenchers on Tuesday night melted away for this evening’s make-or-break vote on the landmark Rwanda plan.
Ex-Cabinet Minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg emerged first from tonight’s rebel meeting telling reporters he would back Mr Sunak.
A rebel source said the group were still furious with the government for ignoring their pleas to strengthen the Rwanda plan.
They vowed to oppose any attempt by the Lords to weaken the Bill even further.
Earlier Downing Street had appealed to wavering MPs to back the PM or face the entire plan being blown up.
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Mr Sunak’s press secretary said: “We are unified in our position in wanting to stop the boats, so we encourage them all to get behind this Bill so we can get this deterrent up and running as quickly as possible.”
While standing firm on the initial Bill, No10 did seek to placate rebels’ fears that civil servants could block ministers from overruling European judges.
Rightwing MPs have demanded any attempt by the Strasbourg Court to ground removal flights – like the first planned one in 2022 – be automatically ignored by British ministers.
Fresh guidance issued to civil servants today stressed that it “is for a Minister of the Crown, and only a Minister of the Crown, to decide whether the United Kingdom will comply”.
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At his weekly PMQs clash, Mr Sunak vowed he would “get a grip” of the small boats crisis – on a day more migrants crossed the Channel.
He said: “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.”
Taking aim at the “Rwanda gimmick”, Sir Keir Starmer hit back that Tory infighting was like “hundreds of bald men scrapping over a single broken comb”.
The Rwanda Bill – which seeks to salvage the scheme following the Supreme Court defeat by declaring the East African country as “safe” – will now move to the Lords.
Mr Sunak still hopes to get the first deportation flights off the ground in the spring.
Meanwhile Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said he would return money to the UK if no migrants are sent to his country.
The UK has paid £240m to Kigali, with an extra £50m to come, but no asylum seeker has been sent to the East African nation.
Asked why he was taking the funds, Mr Kagame said: “It’s only going to be used if those people will come. If they don’t come, we can return the money.”
A spokeswoman for the Rwandan Government, Yolande Makolo, later clarified Rwanda has “no obligation” to return any of the fund
