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The UK’s controversial illegal migration bill is set to become law after the government saw off a series of proposed amendments in the House of Lords on Monday night.
The bill, which is the linchpin of one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five stated priorities — to “stop the boats” containing asylum seekers crossing the Channel to England — had its final night of legislative ping-pong between the House of Commons and the House of Lords on Monday.
The end of the protracted tussle between the Commons and the Lords is a step forward for a piece of legislation that has faced severe criticism from immigration lawyers and civil rights groups, but is popular among the right flank of the Conservative party.
The bill — which would give the government powers to send asylum seekers arriving in the UK by small boats to Rwanda — will now need to receive royal assent from King Charles to become law.
A last-ditch attempt by the Lords to include nine amendments to the bill — including moves to protect against LGBT+ people being deported to unsafe countries and to compel ministers to create safe and legal routes for prospective asylum seekers within nine months — was voted against.
Former prime minister Theresa May was among several MPs that fought to retain some of the changes proposed by the Lords, including trying to ensure migrants have some protections under modern slavery laws, which was voted against by 205 votes to 193.
The bill was sent back to the Lords late on Monday night after all of the amendments had been vetoed by MPs in the House of Commons, and the legislation was passed.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was ultimately unsuccessful in his attempt to propose an amendment to the bill calling on the government to develop a long-term strategy for tackling the refugee crisis and human trafficking.
The Lords were successful this month at winning some concessions from the government, including limiting the length of time children and pregnant women could be detained and preventing the legislation being enforced retrospectively.
The Rwanda policy was deemed unlawful by the Court of Appeal last month. It argued that the east African nation was not a “safe third country” in which asylum claims could be processed.
Sunak has insisted that Rwanda is safe and will take his case to the UK Supreme Court.
This year, 13,200 displaced people have crossed the Channel in small boats, according to data provided by the Home Office.
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