The UK government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has been given the green light after peers caved to pressure and passed the government’s flagship immigration bill. Just one amendment was left standing as parliamentarians sat through a long night of votes on the asylum legislation. However Lords withdrew the amendment on the second round of voting, conceding that they must now “acknowledge the primacy of the elected house”. The amendment would have made sure that an independent monitoring committee declared Rwanda a safe country before asylum seekers could be sent there.
A second amendment, which called for Afghans who served with British forces to be exempt from deportations, was also dropped on Monday night by peers who claimed they had won a concession from the government on the matter. Earlier, prime minister Rishi Sunak said flights to Rwanda have been booked and will take off by July, “no ifs, no buts”. Mr Sunak told a surprise Downing Street press conference that the first flight carrying asylum seekers would leave for Rwanda in 10-12 weeks, despite the problems he has faced passing it into law.
