British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces a major parliamentary showdown on Wednesday over his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, with some of his lawmakers threatening to rebel after they lost an initial bid to toughen the proposed law.
The government comfortably defeated attempts to strengthen the bill late on Tuesday that had been backed by almost a fifth of lawmakers from Sunak’s Conservative Party in what was the biggest rebellion yet against the British prime minister.
But he only won because most opposition parties voted against the rebels, whose action to try to toughen the legislation and close what they say are loopholes, has again exposed deep divisions in the governing party.
The Conservative rebels will now have to decide whether to back down or join forces with opposition parties to try to defeat the government at the law’s final stage in the lower house of parliament, known as a third reading.
In an election year when the Conservatives are badly trailing the opposition Labour Party in the polls, some of those lawmakers who voted for the changes to the legislation might ultimately vote in favour to avoid being criticised by voters.
The government confidently predicted it would win the vote, despite one senior rebel lawmaker saying the scale of Tuesday’s rebellion had given the group confidence it could defeat the government.
“We will get it through, but I’m going to listen respectfully to my colleagues this afternoon,” said Michael Tomlinson, illegal immigration minister, adding that Sunak had promised to recruit more judges to process any asylum appeals.
