Foreign News
Rishi Sunak faces crunch Rwanda vote as Tory MPs split
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a battle to persuade Tory MPs to back his flagship Rwanda bill, ahead of a key vote today (12).
The legislation seeks to revive the government’s plan to send some asylum seekers to the east African country.MPs on the right of the party have said the bill does not go far enough and will not work in its current form. But more centrist MPs warned against any changes which would breach international law.
Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace urged his fellow Tory MPs not to “wreck” the government by voting down the bill. He warned against “making the perfect (but unrealistic) the enemy of the good”.
The Safety of Rwanda Bill faces its first Parliamentary test – known as its second reading – on Tuesday, when MPs get a chance to debate and vote on the main principles of the bill.
The aim of the policy is to deter migrants from crossing the Channel and it is central to the government’s plan to “stop the boats” – which Mr Sunak has made one of his key priorities.
A rebellion by Tory MPs could sink the Rwanda scheme and severely damage the prime minister’s authority.
Among those on the right of the party, the New Conservatives group said the bill required “major surgery or replacement”. More than 40 members met on Monday evening to discuss how they would vote. Several MPs leaving the meeting said they were deciding between abstaining or voting against the bill.Two MPs said the group had the numbers to vote the legislation down and that only one or two in meeting had spoken in support of voting for the bill. Members of the group are due to meet Mr Sunak on this morning.
Earlier, the European Research Group – an influential group of Tory MPs also on the right of the party – said the bill provided an “incomplete solution” to the problem of legal challenges that could be mounted against individuals being sent to Rwanda. It said “very significant amendments” would be needed.
The group has not yet decided how to vote on Tuesday. Its chairman Mark Francois called on the government to pull the bill and come up with a revised version without “so many holes in it”.
However, agreeing to the demands of MPs on the right of the party would risk losing the support of more centrist Tories.
Following a meeting on Monday evening, the centrist One Nation group of Conservative MPs, which includes more than 100 MPs, said it was recommending its members vote for the bill at this stage. But the group said it would oppose any future amendments to the bill “that would mean the UK government breaching the rule of law and its international obligations”.
The group’s chairman, former Deputy Prime Minister Damian Green, urged the government to “stand firm against any attempt to amend the bill in a way that would make it unacceptable to those who believe that support for the rule of law is a basic Conservative principle”.
It is very rare for a bill to be defeated at its first Commons hurdle and this has not happened since 1986.
However, Labour and opposition parties have already said they will try and vote it down, meaning the government needs to ensure enough Tory MPs vote for it to allow it to pass.
Tory critics of the bill could decide to allow it to pass at this stage, possibly by abstaining, in the hope of securing concessions from the government as it goes through the Commons.
But some MPs who previously appeared inclined to back the government in Tuesday’s vote, in the hope of amending the bill at a later stage, now seem much more pessimistic about that possibility. “There’s no way we’d have the votes to amend it next year,” one Tory MP told the BBC. “It’s now or never.”
If there are enough rebels to inflict a defeat this would be near-apocalyptic for Mr Sunak in political terms. That prospect may be enough for him to withdraw the bill completely.
Going ahead with the vote and being defeated would potentially presage a leadership election, perhaps even a general election. Those around the PM acknowledge the numbers are tight but say they are confident they can win and insist they are not going to pull the vote.
The government introduced the emergency legislation last week, after the Rwanda policy was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.
The bill seeks to stop flights being blocked on legal grounds, by declaring in UK law that Rwanda is a safe country.
Those who want it to go further argue it is still open to legal challenge by individuals, if they can provide compelling evidence their personal circumstances mean they would be at risk of serious harm if they were removed to Rwanda.
In an attempt to win over critics, the government took the unusual step of publishing a summary of its own legal advice on the scheme.
The document says the bill allows for “an exceptionally narrow route to individual challenge” – but that to block all court challenges “would be a breach of international law”.It gives examples such as people in the late stages of pregnancy who are unfit to fly or with very rare medical conditions that could not be cared for in Rwanda.
However, critics argue that even if only some of these claims succeed, they would still clog up the courts and delay removals.
Downing Street said the government would continue to listen to the views of MPs but it believed the bill was “strong enough to achieve its aims”.
(BBC)
A drone attack on the town of Kalogi, in Sudan’s South Kordofan region, is said to have hit a kindergarten and killed at least 50 people, including 33 children.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group battling the army in Sudan’s civil war, was accused of Thursday’s attack by a medical organisation, the Sudan Doctors’ Network, and the army.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF.
The RSF in turn accused the army of hitting a market on Friday in a drone attack in the Darfur region, on a fuel depot at the Adre border crossing with Chad.
Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023 when a power struggle broke out between the RSF and the army, who were formerly allies.
The reports could not be verified independently.
According to the army-aligned foreign ministry, the kindergarten was struck twice with missiles from drones.
Civilians and medics who rushed to the school were also attacked, it added.
Responding to reports of the attack in Kalogi, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef said: “Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights.”
“Children should never pay the price of conflict,” Sheldon Yett added.
The agency, he said, urged “all parties to stop these attacks immediately and allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to reach those in desperate need”.
The RSF accused the army of attacking the Adre crossing because it was used for the “delivery of aid and commercial supplies”.
According to the Sudan War Monitor, a group of researchers tracking the conflict, the attack caused civilian casualties and significant damage to a market.
The military did not immediately comment on the reports from Darfur.
Wedged between Sudan’s capital Khartoum and Darfur, the region made up of North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan has been a frontline in the civil war.
The battle for the Kordofans – which have a population of almost eight million – has intensified as the army pushes towards Darfur.
[BBC]
Border clashes have erupted again between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban forces, with each sides accusing the other of breaking a fragile ceasefire.
Residents fled the Afghan city of Spin Boldak overnight, which lies along the 1,600-mile (2,600 km) border between the two countries.
A medical worker in the nearby city of Kandahar told BBC Pashto that four bodies had been brought to a local hospital. Four other people were wounded. Three were reportedly wounded in Pakistan.
There has been sporadic fighting between the two countries in recent months, while Afghanistan’s Taliban government has also accused Pakistan of carrying out air strikes inside the country.
Both sides have confirmed they exchanged fire overnight but each blamed the other for initiating the four hours of fighting.
Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accused the Taliban of “unprovoked firing”.
The statement continued: “An immediate, befitting & intense response has been given by our armed forces. Pakistan remains fully alert & committed to ensuring its territorial integrity & the safety our citizens.”
Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesperson said Pakistan had “once again initiated attacks” and said it was “forced to respond”.
Residents on the Afghan side of the border said the exchange of fire started at around 22:30 (18:00 GMT) on Friday.
Footage from the area showed a large number of Afghans fleeing on foot and in vehicles.
Ali Mohammed Haqmal, head of Kandahar’s information department, said Pakistan’s forces had attacked with “light and heavy artillery” and civilian homes had been hit by mortar fire.
The latest clashes came less than two months after both sides agreed to a ceasefire mediated by Qatar and Turkey.
It ended more than a week of fighting in which dozens were killed – the worst clashes between Pakistan and the Taliban since the group returned to power in 2021 – though tensions have remained high.
The government in Islamabad has long accused Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban of giving shelter to armed groups which carry out attacks in Pakistan.
The Taliban government denies the accusation and has accused Pakistan of blaming others for their “own security failures”.
The Pakistan Taliban have carried out at least 600 attacks on Pakistani forces over the past year, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
Last week delegations from both sides met in Saudi Arabia for a fourth round of negotiations on a wider peace settlement, but did not reach an agreement.
Sources familiar with the talks told BBC News that both sides had agreed to continue with the ceasefire.
[BBC]
Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, after Israel was allowed to compete.
They were among a number of countries who had called for Israel to be excluded over the war in Gaza, as well as accusations of unfair voting practices.
Spanish broadcaster RTVE led calls for a secret ballot on the issue at a meeting in Geneva. It said organisers denied that request – a decision that “increased [our] distrust of the festival’s organisation”.
Ireland’s RTÉ said it felt that its “participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.”
Spain is one of Eurovision’s “Big Five” countries along with France, Germany, Italy and the UK.
Their artists are allowed straight into the final, as their broadcasters provide the largest financial contribution to the EBU.
Approximately 50 broadcasters, including the BBC, attended a meeting of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on Thursday to discuss the future of the contest, which is watched by more than 150 million people each year.
They were asked to back new rules intended to discourage governments and third parties from organising voting campaigns for their acts, after allegations that Israel unfairly boosted its entrant, Yuval Raphael, this year.
BBC News understands that voting to accept those measures was tied to a clause whereby members agreed not to proceed with a vote on Israel’s participation.
“This vote means that all EBU Members who wish to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 and agree to comply with the new rules are eligible to take part,” the EBU said.
[BBC]
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