The ex-Minister for the Department of Trade, Jane Stevenson, has said she resigned her position in government because she wanted the Rwanda bill to be ‘tougher’.
Speaking to GB News, she said:
“It was unfortunate to have to resign but that's the deal if you want to speak out on certain lines.
“I've done so much work on illegal migration, it is really important to my constituents. So I wanted a tougher bill.
Ms Stevenson said she would vote for the bill at third reading even if none of the amendments pass, saying:
“Yes, I will because then we have no bill.
“So, I think that's what I want to focus on. If you listen to my comments in the chamber, it's about a bigger framework. Rwanda is not the whole answer to this.
“We need all those post-war frameworks and legal practices to be updated, they’re not fit for purpose and I spoke at length about that. That's what I want.
“The Prime Minister announced in December he said he was going to look at that and I want him to get a move on with that because I think that will grasp the nettle.
“Europe’s ready to have that conversation, the US is ready to have it so I think that's how we properly get control of our borders.
“[Rishi Sunak] and I hugged it out. He absolutely knows where I stand, he accepts that I just feel I’d like a slightly tougher bill.
“Some people in my party think it will work now, some people want it a little bit softer.
“So the disagreements – I know news teams like to get a good schism story. I don’t think we’re that divided on it. It's just if we look at the legal frameworks, the One Nation are acting within those frameworks, we can sort it out.
“I hope we're just work in progress to getting it done but time is not…”
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