Sir William Cash has ruled out submitting a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister, saying that the party ‘had a big crisis on its hands but he is confident in the new direction of the government.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “The jury’s out. I suppose the intentions are in the right direction and there is talk of emergency legislation and that’s all very encouraging but it has to be the right kind of legislation.
“As I said to the Home Secretary this afternoon, you need legislation that has to be clear, to effectively override provisions in the European Court, the Human Rights Act and the refugee convention.
“I put down an amendment which was supported by about 60 – in fact it would have been many more if more people had had a chance to sign it – about two years ago that said ‘that notwithstanding the existing legislation’. And that's the key wording, and those are hallowed words that are well understood by the courts.
“So the legislation actually provides something which the courts have to apply. It's not quite overriding the judges – it’s not quite as simple as that.
“I think I’ve got a bit of bottle, I think people have noticed that over the last 40 years.
“There is an enormous amount of support welling up in the House of Commons. I was in a meeting earlier this evening amongst the Conservative MPs who do really want the ‘not withstanding’ provision to be embedded.
“If you provide a clear, unambiguous piece of legislation and then it’s taken to the courts, the courts will apply it.
“There's no point in saying the judges are the enemies.
On handing in a letter of no confidence Sir Bill said “I am not going to do anything of the kind.
“We’ve got a big crisis on our hands and we’ve got to get this right. And frankly I don’t have the slightest confidence in Sir Keir Starmer and his rabble.
“If they had a confidence motion or you were to get rid of Rishi Sunak at this moment in time when he’s coming up with these ideas, I’ve already been talking to government ministers since the debate ended this afternoon and I’m getting a very good response from them. They are listening and basically I think we can solve the problem but it has to be clear and unambiguous legislation and it has to provide the judges with the message that Parliament has to prevail.
“We need to get the legislation right and make sure that it is belt and braces.”
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