A law that will enable Britain to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda suffered a setback on Wednesday after Parliament’s upper chamber pressed its attempt to amend the contentious legislation.
The House of Lords inserted amendments into the Safety of Rwanda Bill, sending it back to the lower House of Commons in a process known as parliamentary ping-pong.
The government had hoped members of the Lords would stop blocking the bill on Wednesday, relenting to the parliamentary rule that the unelected Lords ultimately can’t overrule the elected Commons.
The bill is still overwhelmingly likely to become law, but the latest move delays its passage, likely until next week.
The legislation will pave the way for deportation flights to take off – though opponents plan new legal challenges that could keep them grounded.
The Rwanda plan is key to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s pledge to “stop the boats” bringing unauthorized migrants to the U.K. across the English Channel, and Sunak has repeatedly said the first flights will take off in the spring.
“We have an obligation to the public and to those who are being exploited by criminal gangs to stop this vile trade and to protect our borders,” he said.
It has already been two years since Britain and Rwanda signed a deal that would see migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats sent to the East African country, where they would remain permanently.
The plan has been challenged in the courts, and no one has yet been sent to Rwanda under an agreement that has cost the U.K. at least 370 million pounds ($470 million).
