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UK MPs reject changes to Sunak’s Rwanda bill and send it back to House of Lords

  • Under the policy, asylum seekers who arrive illegally in Britain will be sent to the East African nation, in a bid to deter cross-channel crossings
  • PM Sunak faces pressure from the right of his Conservative Party to bring down migration by asylum seekers ahead of general election later this year

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at the House of Commons in London on Monday. Photo: UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor / Handout via Reuters
Bloomberg

Members of Parliament rejected changes made by the House of Lords to Rishi Sunak’s controversial legislation to declare Rwanda a safe destination for deported asylum seekers, punting the bill back to the UK’s upper chamber.

The legislation is central to the prime minister’s pledge to “stop the boats”, as he faces pressure from the right of his Conservative Party to bring down migration by asylum seekers across the English Channel from France ahead of a general election expected later this year.

By declaring in law that Rwanda is a safe place to send the migrants, Sunak hopes to bypass a Supreme Court judgment last year that it is not.

Sunak’s administration has repeatedly pledged to get the first deportation flight to Rwanda off the ground by the end of spring, and the legislation debated in the House of Commons on Monday is crucial to that.

While ministers have trumpeted that the deterrence provided by their plans contributed to a fall in boat crossings last year of more than a third, the year-to-date numbers are at a record in 2024.

Earlier this year, peers passed 10 amendments to Sunak’s bill, including provisions to reinstate the ability of courts and officials to decide whether Rwanda is a “safe” country in individual cases, and to prevent the deportation of unaccompanied children who are wrongly assessed as adults.
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