Rwanda Bill Set For Final Wrangling After Latest Government Defeats

The government's Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill will return to parliament next week, where MPs and peers will undertake what looks likely to be the final round of wrangling over Rishi Sunak's contentious plans to deport asylum seekers to the east African country.

The legislation, designed to declare Rwanda a safe country in order to enact the government's delayed offshoring policy, is due back in the Commons when MPs return from Easter recess on Monday. It was first published in December after the Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeal was entitled to reach the conclusion that the scheme could breach international laws stating that asylum-seekers cannot be sent back to their country of origin if their life is at risk. 

MPs are expected to strip out amendments added during the Bill's last round in the Lords before it will be returned to the upper house to receive its final sign-off. Unless peers choose to insert a new set of clauses, which would be put back before MPs in a process known as 'ping-pong' where a bill bounces between the two houses before making its way into law. 

When the House of Lords last voted on the bill at the end of March crossbench peers were key to the set of Government defeats that have diverted the legislation back to the Commons. Amendments supported by peers at this stage included clauses on modern slavery, compliance with domestic and international law, and protections for children and other vulnerable people. 

The number of non-affiliated peers who backed the amendments outnumbered the ones who backed the government on all of the votes, and the size of crossbench support was bigger than the voting majority. One Lords source thought that whether or not crossbenchers back