By Spy Uganda Correspondent
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak overcame a Conservative Party rebellion and got his plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda through the House of Commons on Wednesday (Jan. 17).
Lawmakers voted 320 to 276 to back a bill intended to overcome a U.K. Supreme Court block on the Rwanda plan.
The vote came a day after some 60 members of Sunak’s governing Conservatives rebelled in an effort to make the legislation tougher.
The bill now goes to the unelected House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, where Sunak’s Conservatives do not have a majority.
The Lords can delay and amend legislation but ultimately can’t overrule the elected House of Commons.
More than 29,000 people made the perilous journey in 2023, down from 42,000 the year before.
Five people died in the night of January 13 to January 14 while trying to launch a boat from northern France in the dark and winter cold.
The British government is trying to reduce a surge in asylum-seekers who make the dangerous crossing in small boats from neighbouring France to the southern coast of Englan
Sunak has staked his premiership on “stopping the boats” and has vowed to push through the plan to deport migrants to Rwanda before a general election expected this year.
In November, the UK Supreme Court ruled Sunak’s policy of deporting migrants to Rwanda would breach British and international human rights laws and agreements.
In response, Sunak agreed a new treaty with the East African nation and brought forward the new legislation designed to override any legal obstacles that would stop deportations.
