Suella Braverman and Priti Patel attended a meeting of Tory rebels last night, which saw multiple right-wing factions come together to discuss James Cleverly's new Rwanda migration bill
Suella Braverman and Priti Patel attended a meeting of Tory rebels last night, which saw multiple right-wing factions come together to discuss James Cleverly's new Rwanda migration bill, GB News understands.
MPs from the European Research Group (ERG), New Conservatives and the Common Sense Group met last night in a meeting which one former minister described as "very bracing".
Around 30 MPs from the New Conservatives and Common Sense Group - including the two former Home Secretaries - attended the meeting, hosted by the ERG.
The so-called 'Star Chamber' of lawyers, which scrutinised many of the Brexit deals, is set to look at James Cleverly's new plan to send flights to Rwanda and provide an answer on whether it will successfully facilitate the scheme in the coming days.
A source inside the meeting told GB News: "We’ve only seen a treaty. The important bit will be the Bill.
"The Bill will have to meet the obstacles identified in the Supreme Court judgment.
"Anything less won’t work and frankly it would be pointless to introduce a Bill that doesn’t achieve that."
Another ERG source told GB News that MPs in attendance at the meeting were "united and focussed" on the issue at hand.
They described migration as "the next Brexit", saying it is a "unifying factor" for groups on the right-wing of the party.
In a statement after the meeting, ERG Chairman Mark Francois said: "Our ERG Meeting this evening, which also included members of the New Conservatives and the Common Sense Group, resolved to refer the Rwanda Bill, as soon as it is published, to the 'Star Chamber' of legal experts, chaired by Sir Bill Cash.
"The Star Chamber will be asked to decide on the following question: 'Whether the Bill fully respects Parliamentary Sovereignty, with unambiguous wording, which would facilitate flights to Rwanda.'
"The Star Chamber will complete this tasks in days, not weeks."
If the Star Chamber finds that the new Bill does not go far enough to be approved by the Supreme Court, the joined-up group of rebels would constitute a major rebellion for the Prime Minister.
This comes in a week which saw Sunak hit by his first Commons defeat after Tory MPs rebelled to support a Labour amendment to establish a compensatory body for victims of the infected blood scandal.
Sunak was also hit with new polling suggesting he is more unpopular than Liz Truss.
This morning, the Telegraph reported that as many as ten ministers are on resignation watch over the Government adopts a "hardline" approach to migration.
MPs from all three groups in attendance at last night's meeting have been demanding Rishi Sunak take action to slash migration for months.
Braverman has been a vocal critic of the Government's approach to migration, accusing Sunak of ignoring her warnings that the plan to send migrants to Rwanda will fail in the courts.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
James Cleverly announced a new treaty with Rwanda yesterday, which Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta said would “strengthen” the asylum processing system.
As part of the treaty, a new appeals process will be established within Rwanda’s high court to handle exceptional cases with British and Commonwealth judges, as well as Rwandan judges, presiding over the appeal court hearings.
