UK Parliament In Stand-Off Over Rwanda Migrants Plan
Britain’s Conservative government insisted Thursday that it still aimed to send migrants to Rwanda in the coming months, despite a parliamentary stand-off over the controversial plan.
The bill is Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s answer to stopping asylum seekers, who risk their lives to cross the Channel from France to England in small boats.
He hopes putting irregular migrants on a one-way flight to Kigali will help defeat a resurgent opposition Labour party at a general election due later this year.
His plan has been delayed as peers in the unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, sent it back to the House of Commons, the elected lower chamber, for further concessions.
Members of the Lords want changes to protect those targeted by the proposed law.
Earlier this week, the Commons rejected several amendments sought by the Lords during its first inspection of the bill.
Sunak’s official spokesman said it was “frustrating” that the Lords had sent the legislation back to the Commons without approving it.
“Our spring timelines remain the same as before,” he told reporters, without specifying which month the government hoped the contentious scheme could begin.
