A North-East MP says he will join potential rebels looking to vote against the Rwanda Bill as Rishi Sunak comes under growing pressure from right-wingers to toughen it up. 

Simon Clarke, Tory MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, made a statement as the Prime Minister continues talks with Tory MPs. considering rebelling.  

Rebel sources said the party's deputy chairman Lee Anderson had told colleagues he intends to defy the Government as Tory divisions are set to be dragged back into the open in crunch votes this week.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is popular among the Tory grassroots, is also understood to have called for asylum seekers to be prevented from lodging individual legal appeals against their removals to Kigali.

In a Facebook post Mr Clarke set out to give an “important explanation” as to why he is “going to have to rebel on the Rwanda votes this week”.

He said: “We need to stop the boat crossings that are making a mockery of our borders.

“Rishi Sunak is absolutely right about that, I believe it passionately myself and I hear it from you, my constituents, every week on the doorsteps of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

“Sending people who come here illegally to Rwanda is the best way to do this.

“There’s lots more we are doing, including work with European law enforcement agencies, which means crossings are down by a third on 2022, but the single best way to stop the crossings at source is if we can send the clear message that coming here illegally won’t mean you get to stay here.”

Mr Clarke added he would be supporting a series of amendments to the legislation the Prime Minister has brought forward, because “although the new law would be the toughest ever, it is all too probable it still won’t work”.

More than 50 Tory MPs have publicly backed right-wing amendments to the Rwanda Bill, which will return to the Commons on Tuesday.

But any attempt by the Prime Minister to placate them would be opposed by Tory moderates.

Mr Sunak on Monday said he was “talking to all my colleagues” as he and his allies seek to avoid another open display of infighting between Conservative factions.

“I know everyone is frustrated — I’m frustrated about the situation — and they want to see an end to the legal merry-go-round,” he told reporters during a visit to Essex.

“I’m confident that the Bill we have got is the toughest that anyone has ever seen and it will resolve this issue once and for all.”

The Tory leader said he was “determined to get this new legislation on to the statute book so we can get our Rwanda scheme up and running”.

He said “good progress” had been made on his pledge to stop migrant boats crossing the Channel, adding: “In order to finish the job, we do need a deterrent like Rwanda and that is why I’m trying to do everything I can to get this Bill – which by the way is the toughest piece of migration legislation that Parliament has ever seen – on to the statute books.”

The scale of the small boats problem which the policy seeks to tackle was reinforced on Sunday when five more people died trying to cross the Channel from France.

The amendments gaining support among backbenchers were tabled by Robert Jenrick, who resigned as immigration minister over the legislation, and veteran Tory Sir Bill Cash.

They are seeking to disapply international law from the Bill and curtail asylum seekers’ rights to appeal against flights to Kigali.

Mr Anderson has not commented publicly but rebel sources said they had been told he will back the amendments brought by Sir Bill and Mr Jenrick if they are selected.

The amendments are unlikely to pass as they will not get Labour support but the real test will come at the third reading when rebels may vote against the entire Bill.

Three leaders of groups on the Tory right, Mark Francois, Sir John Hayes and Danny Kruger, have said they will oppose it if Mr Sunak does not bow to their demands.

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary and a rival to Mr Sunak, has said she will vote against the Bill if there are “no improvements”, having previously abstained.

Former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland has said he would not back the Bill if the changes were made.

Mr Sunak has previously argued that moving a further “inch” on the Bill would risk the Rwandan government quitting the deal.

Home Office figures showed 139 migrants arrived in the UK on Sunday after crossing the Channel in four boats.

The first crossings of the year so far were recorded on Saturday after a 27-day pause, with 124 people arriving in three boats, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 263.

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The activity came after the longest gap in small boat crossings for five years. Before Saturday, arrivals had not been recorded since December 16.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel has fallen year-on-year for the first time since current records began in 2018, with total arrivals in 2023 down more than a third on 2022.

The provisional annual total for last year, 29,437, is 36% lower than the record of 45,774 for 2022, but is still the second highest annual total, above the figure for 2021 (28,526).