British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s latest effort to send some migrants to Rwanda finally won approval from Parliament early Tuesday, hours after he pledged deportation flights would begin in July.
Just after midnight, the unelected House of Lords “recognised the primacy” of the elected House of Commons and withdrew the last of its proposed modifications, breaking the legislative impasse that had held up the legislation for two months and allowing the bill to become law.
Sunak held a rare morning press conference to demand that the Lords stop blocking his key proposal for ending the tide of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, promising that both houses of Parliament would remain in session until it was approved.
The legislative stalemate was just the latest hurdle to delay implementation of a plan that has been repeatedly blocked by a series of court rulings and opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane.
Migrant advocates have vowed to continue the fight against it.
“For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block fights and keep the votes coming,” Sunak told reporters Monday morning in London.
“But enough is enough. No more prevarication, no more delay.”
The government of British plans to deport migrants to Rwanda who enter the United Kingdom illegally.
Some migrants who risk their lives in leaky, inflatable boats running away from wars and poverty in hopes that they will be able to claim asylum once they reach Britain.
