What is the Tory party’s policy on immigration after record-breaking net migration figures and the failure of its Rwanda policy at the Supreme Court? It was a question that was actually asked this afternoon by a Conservative MP. James Morris confronted immigration minister Robert Jenrick in the Commons on the new Home Secretary’s claim that the Rwanda policy was not the ‘be all and end all’ for the government. He asked twice what the Conservative policy on stopping the boats is. The immigration minister replied:

What is the Tory party’s policy on immigration after record-breaking net migration figures and the failure of its Rwanda policy at the Supreme Court?

When my right honourable friend the Prime Minister and I set out our comprehensive plan this time last year, it had many facets, one of which – an extremely important component of which – was our Rwanda plan but it was not the only element of our plan and we have worked intensively over the course of the last 12 months on each and every facet of that plan and those on the opposite benches jeer but is that plan working? Yes it is!

James Cleverly didn’t repeat his phrase from the weekend – the one about Rwanda not being the ‘be all and end all’ – when he was also questioned on the Rwanda emergency legislation, which will seek to shore up the policy after its legal defeat two weeks ago and could be introduced as early as next month. Many questions came from Cleverly’s own side, including from former cabinet minister Simon Clarke, who pressed him on his ‘profound conviction’ that any new immigration legislation must override parts of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Home Secretary did not offer that, nor did he give Miriam Cates or Jack Brereton the assurances they asked for about the bill and its robustness in the face of future litigation. All he offered was the line that he did not want to prejudge the legislation. I spoke to Simon Clarke after the session and he said:

The jury is really out tonight. All of us were making the same point which is that Rwanda isn’t an incidental part of our package to reduce illegal migration, it is the core package because it goes to the heart of incentives. It is for the government to say why disapplication [of the European Convention on Human Rights] isn’t necessary, given we have previously been told by ministers that it is.

It wasn’t just illegal immigration but legal net migration that those on his own benches were concerned about. Jonathan Gullis demanded that ministers ‘copy and paste’ the policies of the New Conservatives, a parliamentary grouping of the right of the party, to cut the numbers. Jenrick replied:

Firstly, we believe that the level of legal migration into this country is far too high, and has very profound impacts on access to public services, upon the productivity of our economy and about the ability of the UK to be a socially cohesive and united country and that’s why we need to take action. We have already announced a specific policy with relation to dependents, which comes into force at the beginning of next year, we think that will have a substantive impact upon the levels of net migration, but as the Prime Minister has said we are keeping all options under review and we will take further action as required.

Cleverly nodded gravely as he said this. Labour had come to these Home Office questions prepared to feast on the Tory turmoil but the questions from Yvette Cooper and Stephen Kinnock were far easier for Jenrick and Cleverly to bat off than the ones from their own side. Kinnock described Jenrick as a ‘law unto himself’ and claimed he was on ‘resignation watch’ – which made the minister roll his eyes theatrically. Cooper described Cleverly as being ‘up a certain kind of creek without a paddle’, and dubbed him ‘Colonel Calamity’. Both men dismissed their opposite numbers as asking questions without any solutions of their own. Easy to say in the Commons – but of course Tory MPs are waiting for solutions from their own ministers beyond the promise to limit visas that allow those coming into this country to bring dependants.