Rishi Sunak Warns House Of Lords Against Opposing His Rwanda Bill

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sought to pre-emptively shift blame over risks his Rwanda Bill still faces, warning the House of Lords against opposing the legislation, which has already sparked divisions in the Commons.

The government's Rwanda Bill cleared its latest House of Commons vote after threats of a major Conservative backbench rebellion turned out to be empty, with only 11 Tory MPs on the right of the party rebelling at the third reading. The legislation was approved by a comfortable House of Commons majority.

However, the challenges for the government in passing through the legislation and enacting it are far from over, with the bill next due to face heavy scrutiny in the House of Lords. 

The Prime Minister called a press conference on Thursday morning, in which he started in which he fired warning shots at the Lords and implored peers to back the legislation when it passes through the Upper House.

Sunak was keen to portray the Bill passing through the Commons as a victory for the government, but indicated he was aware that the legislation still had a number of significant obstacles in its way – specifically singling out the Lords, with many peers already having been vocal in their views that the Bill could be ineffective and inhumane.

"There is now only one question: Will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected House?" Sunak said.

"Or will they get on board and do the right thing? It's as simple as that."

He said that the government wanted to "stick to our plan" and that it was therefore crucial that the Lords support it.

"It's time to take back control of our borders and defeat the people smugglers. It's time to restore people's trust that