19.3.2024.

The House of Commons voted by a large majority against the 10 amendments to the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration ) bill, which is supposed to overrule the supreme court’s objections to the project. It is also designed to give ministers the power to disregard any emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights halting flights.

 

One of the amendments would have compelled the government to follow domestic and international law. Another prevented the government from insisting that Rwanda is a safe country until Kigali introduces the safeguards it has pledged, including an undertaking that no refugees would be returned to the unsafe countries they had fled. The Lords also wanted to exempt anyone who had worked with the British armed forces from deportation.

 

The bill will now return to the Lords, where peers must decide whether to reinstate the amendments, or allow the bill to pass.

UPDATE

26.3.2024.

The Commons have again rejected the Lords’ amendments to the Rwanda bill, which is now expected to become law in April. The first flights may depart in June, according to political commentators, as the Conservatives are hoping that this will give them a boost in the polls.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/18/mps-vote-to-throw-out-amendments-to-rwanda-deportation-bill