MPs And Peers Brace To Sit Until Early Hours With Rwanda Bill

MPs and peers are bracing to potentially sit until the early hours, after the Prime Minister vowed that the Rwanda plans would be finalised “no ifs, no buts”.

Peers have sent the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration Bill) back to the Commons tonight with one addtional amendment asking for an independent committee to monitor the safety of Rwanda for asylum seekers. 

Lords voted by 240 votes to 211 to back the amendment, sending it back to the Commons again this evening. 

However, they have dropped their demands on people who have supported the British Armed forces overseas from being exempted from deportation, after they got an apparent concession from ministers. 

The bill is bouncing between the Commons and Lords in the latest round of parliamentary ping-pong. Earlier tonight, MPs already stripped out the latest round of changes made by peers last week, sending it back to the Lords. 

Labour peer Lord Desmond Browne has previously offered up amendments that would exempt Afghans who have supported British armed forces from being sent to Rwanda. 

It had been thought that there could be an appetite for peers to hold out and further try to force this principle into the legislation tonight, however, Lord Browne did not press it to a further vote after minister Lord Sharpe said that the government would reassess relocation applications. 

Browne's plans received strong cross-party support in the House of Lords, and sources believed a version of them could be taken to a vote again at least once on Monday evening. 

MPs will now have to decide once more whether to accept the change made by the Lords or strip it back out. 

Labour peer and former shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti told PoliticsHome earlier today that the Prime