Robert Jenrick resigns as immigration minister over Rwanda legislation

Robert Jenrick has resigned as UK immigration minister after “strong disagreements” with the Government’s Rwanda policy.

The home secretary James Cleverly confirmed Jenrick’s resignation after facing questions from MPs in the Commons.

Jenrick wrote on social media: “It is with great sadness that I have written to the Prime Minister to tender my resignation as minister for Immigration.

“I cannot continue in my position when I have such strong disagreements with the direction of the Government’s policy on immigration.”

He said the small boats crisis was doing “untold damage” to the country and the Government needed to place “national interests highly contested interpretations of international law”.

Cleverly paid tribute to Jenrick, claiming the former immigration minister’s work had been “instrumental”.

The home secretary told the Commons: “I have from this despatch box and a number of other locations said how much I value the work of the immigration minister.

“He has done a huge amount of work on this and a number of other areas and I have said that in a number of areas which have driven down small boats arrivals by a third, the work that he has done has been instrumental, absolutely instrumental.

“I have no doubt that the whole of Government will work to make sure this legislation achieves what we, I think, all should want to achieve which is to break the business model of people smugglers and to prevent people being abused by them in an attempt to come and live in the UK.”

The draft Bill, published on Wednesday, compels judges to treat Rwanda as a safe country after the Supreme Court ruled the scheme was unlawful over risks to refugees.

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

But it does not go as far as providing powers to dismiss the European Convention on Human Rights, as hardliners including sacked home secretary Suella Braverman have demanded.

Braverman’s allies made clear that the Bill is “fatally flawed”, indicating that she believes it will quickly lead the Tories into “electoral oblivion”.