Former British PM Boris Johnson and other Tory backbench heavyweights have backed a motion to stop a European court blocking plans to settle trafficked asylum-seekers in Rwanda.
The 'Ten-Minute Rule' motion, tabled by Stoke-on-Trent North MP Jonathan Gullis for Wednesday's sitting of Parliament, comes as four people drowned in the freezing English Channel after a people-traffickers' boat, overloaded with up to 50 people, capsized.
It calls for an amendment to this year's Nationality and Borders Act to prevent challenges to the government's agreement with Rwanda in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The proposed bill should ensure that "the removal of asylum seekers to safe countries shall have effect notwithstanding inconsistency or incompatibility with international or other domestic law," and require that Home Secretary Suella Braverman implement the policy "regardless of any decision or judgment of any international court or body."
Gullis' motion is backed by Johnson and three members of his last cabinet: former home secretary Priti Patel, who struck the deal with Rwanda, ex-Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg and culture secretary Nadine Dorries.
They are joined by fellow Brexiteers Mark Francois, Andrea Jenkyns, Pauline Latham, Tim Loughton, Ben Bradley, Mark Jenkinson and Lia Nici.
Five of those are members of the Eurosceptic European Research group of Tory backbenchers or the Leave Means Leave campaign, and most are MPs for formerly safe Labour Party 'red wall' seats that flipped to the Tories in the 2019 election in support of leaving the European Union.
The opposition, led by the Labour Party, will reportedly oppose the motion.
Based in the French city of Strasbourg near the seat of the EU's European Parliament, the ECHR is a body of the obscure Council of Europe, a body of 46 states including the UK and 18 other non-EU members.
Fellow member Russia was suspended from participating in the Council's Parliamentary Assembly in 2014 over Crimea's vote to join the Russian Federation, and was expelled in March 2022 over its special operation in Ukraine
On Tuesday Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who led a wave of mass resignations from cabinet that forced Johnson's resignation in July, announced new plans to tackle the wave of human trafficking and illegal immigration that has seen tens of thousands making the perilous sea crossing in small boats.
Some estimate that 60 per cent of those arriving illegally are young men from Albania, a candidate for EU membership.
He said UK border agents would be stationed at the airport in the Albanian capital Tirana, while officials handling claims for political asylum would be instructed that the Balkan state was "safe", with an assumption that their application would be denied, and that those claiming to be victims of modern slavery would have to provide evidence.