Rwanda Bill: Scottish peer Ruth Davidson says there 'are dogs in the street that know' flights not going to happen

Ruth Davidson - the former Scottish Conservative leader – has made her views known on the Rwanda Bill

A senior Conservative peer has cast doubt about whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy will ever see asylum seekers deported to east Africa.

Ahead of the House of Lords debating the Safety of Rwanda Bill, former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Ruth Davidson said on Friday there “are dogs in the street that know” that deportation flights are “probably never going to happen”.

In comments made to The Today Podcast and broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Davidson said: “Let’s have a debate about immigration, absolutely.

Scottish peer Ruth Davidson on the campaign trail in Edinburgh. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

“Every sovereign nation should be in charge of who comes in; not everybody has a right to go to every country in the world — I completely get all of that. But where is the balance in this, rather than some of the language that is being used, some of the knots that people are getting into?

“And this thing about putting people on planes to Rwanda. I mean, there are dogs in the street that know that, one, it is probably never going to happen.

“And two, if it does, it is going to be a number so small that it makes very little difference to the bottom line.”

The Safety of Rwanda Bill passed its third reading in the Commons on Wednesday unamended with a majority of 44 after only 11 Tories, including former home secretary Suella Braverman, voted against the Prime Minister’s immigration plan.

In a press conference on Thursday, Mr Sunak urged peers to “do the right thing” and not frustrate the passage of the legislation through the Lords.