PM will fail on Rwanda and lose election - Suella Braverman

Rishi Sunak's flagship Rwanda Bill "will fail" and lose him the next election, Suella Braverman has said.

The PM finds himself in what could be the gravest crisis of his leadership so far, sparked by the resignation of immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

Mr Sunak put "stopping the boats" at the heart of his political strategy at the beginning of the year.

But his former home secretary, Mrs Braverman, said the new bill "won't work and it will not stop the boats".

The government's emergency Rwanda bill, published on Wednesday, was designed to provide the deterrent effect the government wants, but avoiding the more radical option of setting aside European human rights laws altogether - which would have been a step too far for the Rwandan government.

The legislation, which must be voted on by Parliament, gives ministers the powers to disregard sections of the Human Rights Act.

In the end. this compromise did not even satisfy Mr Sunak's own immigration minister, Robert Jenrick who surprised No 10 by announcing his resignation shortly after it was published.

Mrs Braverman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday that the bill opened the government up to legal challenges.

Mrs Braverman said: "The prime minister made the promise to stop the boats at the beginning of the year. We now need to deliver on that pledge.

"The time for talk, the time for slogans and promises is over. We need to show delivery and that's what this debate right now is all about."

A Downing Street source has said that Conservatives "need to operate within reality" and warned there is "no full fat option" for the Rwanda scheme.

The source said the current bill was "the only route to having a working deterrent scheme this side of the election" and that "anyone who believes in tough action to tackle illegal immigration must back it"

The first vote on the bill is expected next week. If the Tory right joined with Labour to vote it down, that could spell major trouble for Mr Sunak.

There are some suggestions that to avoid this, he might designate it a confidence vote - meaning that MPs would have the whip withdrawn if they defied him.

Whether he has the political strength to make that threat is unclear.

There are some suggestions Conservative MPs might try to trigger a confidence vote in Mr Sunak's leadership.

Some other Conservatives believe the party's unruliness might compel Sunak to call a general election earlier than expected.

Shortly before Mr Jenrick's resignation, the prime minister told Conservative MPs that they must unite or die.