Danny Kruger has said he is doubtful the Rwanda Bill can be made to work “at all”.

The Devizes MP abstained from the vote held on Tuesday, December 12, and spoke in the debate.

He argued the Bill would allow illegal migrants to lodge claims that removing them to Rwanda will put them at risk in terms of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Kruger also noted the potential for the European Court of Human Rights to stop removals by issuing a Rule 39 interim order.

In a statement released following his abstention, Kruger said that, given the statements by his other colleagues and the state of opinion in the House of Lords, he was doubtful the Bill could be made to work “at all.”

The Rwanda Scheme aims to reduce the number of illegal migrants crossing the channel in small boats, by sending some of them to Rwanda upon arrival.

The first deportation flight, due to take off in June 2022, was blocked by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

In November 2023, the Supreme Court found the scheme to be unlawful because Rwanda was not considered to be a safe third country and migrants were at risk of being sent back to their homelands.

The Safety of Rwanda Bill requests that Rwanda is to be treated as safe by parliament.

Mr Kruger agrees with the objectives of the Bill but does not believe it will work in its current form.

His statement read: “The Government is right that we will only stop this terrible traffic in human beings, and free up our asylum system for the genuinely vulnerable (not the fit, comparatively rich young men who are the great majority of cross-channel migrants, all of whom are coming from a safe third country), is by introducing an effective deterrent which makes the crossing not worth it.”

“That means detaining them straight away and removing them swiftly back to their own country or a safe third country, like Rwanda with whom we have an agreement to take them.”

He concluded: “I've had a number of conversations with the PM and other ministers about this Bill and I'll continue to work with them to try and get a version we can all support.

“The most important thing is that the Bill succeeds in its mission to 'stop the boats' and restores control of our borders.

“We have promised this; so far we have failed; we must not fail again.”