Immigration minister Robert Jenrick QUITS as Tory Right revolts over Rishi Sunak's 'fatally flawed' Plan B on Rwanda: PM facing meltdown over emergency law that DOESN'T exempt deportations from European human rights rules

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick quit tonight as the Tory Right attacked Rishi Sunak's 'fatally flawed' new plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The Cabinet minister's exit from Government was confirmed by Home Secretary James Cleverly in the House of Commons this evening.

Mr Jenrick's departure came just hours after the PM unveiled emergency legislation to get migrant flights to the east African country in the air by the Spring.

In his resignation letter to Mr Sunak, he wrote: 'I cannot continue in my position when I have such strong disagreements with the direction of the Government's policy on immigration.'

He added he was 'unable to take the currently proposed legislation through the Commons as I do not believe it provides us with the best possible chance of success'.

Mr Jenrick claimed the legislation being offered by the PM was a 'triumph of hope over experience'.

Tory former education minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a fierce critic of the PM, claimed Mr Jenrick's resignation 'may be the death knell' for Mr Sunak's premiership. 

The latest bout of Tory civil war saw backbenchers despair at the PM's failure to take the most hardline options to get the asylum scheme up and running.

But Mr Sunak seemed to have appeased Tory moderates, with the One Nation group of MPs welcoming his decision 'to continue to meet the UK's international commitments, which uphold the rule of law'.

Mr Sunak is bidding to avoid further human rights challenges to the Rwanda scheme through new legislation that declares Rwanda a 'safe' destination for those crossing the Channel in small boats.

A new law published this afternoon will seek to 'disapply' parts of the 1998 Human Rights Act in a bid to ensure flights take off before the next general election.

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will also reinforce the power of ministers to ignore rulings made by European Court of Human Rights judges.

But it stops short of pulling out of the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg court. It also retains provisions for some migrants to legally challenge their deportation to Rwanda.

The action is part of Mr Sunak's twin-track approach to manoeuvring around last month's devastating ruling by the Supreme Court that the Rwanda scheme is unlawful.

As well as the emergency legislation, the PM has also struck a new treaty with the African country. 

Mr Jenrick was notably absent from the Commons as Mr Cleverly made a statement on the emergency legislation this evening.

One Tory hardliner had told MailOnline: 'If he resigns, it's big problems for the PM.'

After news of his resignation was confirmed, Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: 'This is yet more Conservative chaos as another minister flees this sinking ship of a Government.'

Mr Jenrick's former boss, the ex-home secretary Suella Braverman, earlier lambasted the PM's emergency legislation, with a source saying it 'doesn't come close' to meeting her tests for it to be effective.

She had earlier used an extraordinary Commons speech to warn the Tories face 'electoral oblivion' if they fail to get illegal migration under control. 

A source close to Mrs Braverman said: 'The PM has kept the ability for every single illegal migrant to make individual human rights claims against their removal and to then appeal those claims if they don't succeed at first.

'It is fatally flawed. It will be bogged down in the courts for months and months. And it won't stop the boats. It is a further betrayal of Tory voters and the decent patriotic majority who want to see this insanity brought to an end.'

Mr Sunak met Tory MPs behind closed doors for 45 minutes tonight in a bid to win them over. 

Ex-Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, as he made his way to the 1922 Committee meeting with the PM, said 'on initial reading' the Bill is 'encouraging'.

'It has the notwithstanding clause in it - that's good. But we are waiting for the legal advice,' he said.

After the meeting Bracknell MP James Sunderland said the PM was 'magnificent' and showed 'leadership, vision and clarity'.

Asked if the Bill would break international law, Mr Sunderland replied: 'Wait and see. I don't think so - I'm not a lawyer.'

Fellow MP Kelly Tolhurst said of the PM: 'He's convinced me.'

Former minister Paul Scully said that his party colleagues were 'happy' with the draft Rwanda legislation.

He said the PM's message was 'this is it' when it comes to the Bill and that 'we have to get this through'.

Mr Scully said Mr Sunak discussed a number of issues key to the next election, but stressed that stopping the boats had been a 'pledge' that he was 'determined' to achieve.

In a statement, the One Nation group of Tory MPs said: 'We welcome the Government's decision to continue to meet the UK's international commitments which uphold the rule of law.

'We will be taking legal advice from the former Solicitor-General Lord Garnier about concerns and the practicalities of the Bill.'

In his statement to the Commons tonight, Mr Cleverly said the emergency legislation stating that Rwanda is a safe country will prevent courts from 'second-guessing' the will of Parliament.

'Given the Supreme Court's judgment, we cannot be confident that courts will respect the new treaty on its own,' the Home Secretary told MPs.

'So today, the Government has published emergency legislation to make unambiguously clear that Rwanda is a safe country and to prevent the courts from second-guessing Parliament's will.

'We will introduce legislation tomorrow in the form of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill to give effect to the judgment of Parliament that Rwanda is a safe country, not withstanding UK law or any interpretation of international law.' 

Labour MP Mike Kane could be heard shouting 'Where is the minister?' from the backbenches, as Mr Jenrick appeared not to be present for Mr Cleverly's statement. 

The PM earlier said the legislation will ensure the Government's flagship asylum scheme 'cannot be stopped'.

After the Supreme Court last month ruled the Rwanda plan to be unlawful, Mr Sunak had been left walking a tightrope between warring wings of his party over whether to waive human rights rules to get the deportation flights in the air. 

Hie emergency legislation, published this afternoon, seems closer to the 'semi-skimmed' option favoured by Tory moderates.

Rwanda's foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta stressed the need for the UK's legislation to comply with international law.

He said: 'It has always been important to both Rwanda and the UK that our rule of law partnership meets the highest standards of international law, and it places obligations on both the UK and Rwanda to act lawfully.

'Without lawful behaviour by the UK, Rwanda would not be able to continue with the Migration and Economic Development Partnership.'

This afternoon, Mrs Braverman took the rarely-used opportunity to give a resignation statement to MPs to issue an apocalyptic warning about the impact of the small boats crisis on Tory electoral chances.

Flanked by leading figures on the Tory Right, including ex-PM Liz Truss, she said the PM's new law must include a 'nothwithstanding clause' that would allow human rights laws to be sidestepped on asylum cases.

She also advocated for the creation of makeshift detention facilities along the lines of the Covid-era Nightingale Hospitals to house arrivals before they are sent to Rwanda. And Mrs Braverman said MPs should sit over Christmas to get the law passed as soon as possible.

She asked: 'All of this comes down to a simple question: who governs Britain? Where does ultimate authority in the UK sit? Is it with the British people and their elected representatives in Parliament? Or is it in the vague, shifting and unaccountable concept of ''international law''?' 

'It is now or never. The Conservative Party faces electoral oblivion in a matter of months if we introduce yet another Bill destined to fail. Do we fight for sovereignty or let our party die? I refuse to sit by and allow the trust that millions of people have put in us be discarded like an inconvenient detail.'

Mrs Braverman said that while she backs the UK quitting the European Convention on Human Rights, she accepted the Government did not - and that it was 'not the only way to cut the Gordian Knot'.

She unveiled her own five-point plan, which included the bill containing a 'notwithstanding clause' allowing the 'the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Refugee Convention, and all other international law' to be over-ridden.

Mr Sunak defended the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer mocked it as a costly 'gimmick' which is not making progress.

Coming under pressure over the plan at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Sunak said the new Rwanda treaty is about addressing the concerns of the Supreme Court.

'We will do everything it takes to get this scheme working so that we can indeed stop the boats and that's why this week we have signed a new legally-binding treaty with Rwanda which together with new legislation will address all the concerns that have been raised,' he said.

'Because everyone should be in no doubt about our absolute commitment to stop the boats and get flights off.'

Mr Sunak said 'deterrence is critical' before criticising Labour for pledging to scrap the scheme, adding: 'Once again instead of being on the side of the British people, he finds himself on the side of the people smugglers.'

Tory moderates said last night that they have received 'assurances' the PM would not proceed with the most radical option for resolving the stand-off with the Supreme Court over the flagship Rwanda scheme.

Mr Sunak had been examining a so-called 'full-fat' plan that would carve out the Rwanda scheme from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as advocated by many on the Tory Right.

Instead Mr Sunak was thought to be leaning towards a 'semi-skimmed' version of the legislation which could override the UK's Human Rights Act but not the ECHR. This could limit legal challenges but leave open a right of appeal to Strasbourg.

A 'skimmed' version of the deal would simply see Parliament declare that, in the light of the new treaty signed with Rwanda yesterday, the African nation is a safe country to send migrants.

Mr Sunak is understood to have been influenced by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, who ignored ECHR rulings on prisoner voting for years without leaving it.

The former prime minister told peers yesterday: 'There are occasions when the ECHR makes judgments as they did on the issue of prisoner votes when they said that it was absolutely essential that we legislated to give prisons the vote.

'And I said I didn't think that was the case, I think that should be settled by Houses of Parliament, and the ECHR backed down. So that sort of flexibility may well be necessary in the future.'

Damian Green, who served as Theresa May's deputy, said overriding the ECHR would be 'the wrong thing to do' and make it 'pretty much impossible' to get the legislation through the House of Lords.

Mr Green said the Government should 'think twice' before trying to limit the application of the ECHR or the Human Rights Act. 

Tory whips had warned as many as ten ministers could resign if the Government tries to override the ECHR, including Attorney General Victoria Prentis and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk.

But MPs on the Tory Right signalled they would continue to press for a 'full fat' option. 

Dozens are said to be ready to back an amendment to the legislation on the ECHR if Mr Sunak drops the plan. 

Mark Francois, of the European Research Group of Tory MPs, said the group's lawyers would look for 'unambiguous wording' in the new plan that will ensure deportation flights can take place next year before backing it.