How did my MP vote on safety of Rwanda Bill? Rishi Sunak battles House of Lords to pass controversial law

Rishi Sunak is facing another round of Parliamentary wrangling after peers delayed passing the Safety of Rwanda Bill once again.

The Prime Minister wants to send asylum seekers to the east African country for processing and resettlement to act as a deterrent to those who cross the Channel in small boats. Downing Street said: “This week Parliament has the opportunity to pass a Bill that will save the lives of those being exploited by people-smuggling gangs.” But Charities have criticised the scheme as cruel and ineffective, while Labour says it is a waste of money with hundreds of millions of pounds spent already.

MPs have once again voted down amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill by the House of Lords, which has continued to inflict a series of defeats against the controversial policy. The government stripped out changes made by peers who want to exempt people who worked for the UK abroad, such as Afghan interpreters, and have an independent monitoring group to assess the safety of Rwanda.

The Lords’ insistence on the amendments ensures a fourth round of “ping-pong” over the Bill, where legislation is batted between the two Houses until agreement is reached. The draft law will be sent back to the Commons, where MPs are set to consider the latest changes on Monday.

The Home Secretary James Cleverly accused Labour of a “politically cynical” effort to scupper the bill, however the opposition said the Government should stop wasting time and money on the “hare-brained scheme”. Sunak insisted he wants to get flights to Rwanda off the ground “as soon as possible”.

What is the Rwanda bill?

The government wants to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and resettlement, in what has become Sunak's flagship piece of legislation. The Home Office believes this will act as a deterrent to migrants crossing the Channel on small boats, however charities have questioned whether this will work.

The policy, however, was originally declared unlawful by the Supreme Court as it puts asylum seekers at risk of "refoulement", which is when they are sent back to their home country where they are at risk. Sunak hopes to combat this with a twin approach, firstly, signing a treaty with Rwanda which states that anyone the UK sends cannot be deported from east African country.

The second part is this bill, which unilaterally declares Rwanda safe for asylum seekers who arrive on small boats, and disapplies parts of the Human Rights Act to limit the number of legal challenges that migrants can make. The government says that individuals can only legally contest their deportation if they can prove they would face serious and irreversible harm - such as being pregnant or suffering from a very serious illness.

This part is particularly controversial as it effectively disapplies UK and international law. What this means is that if an asylum seeker makes a legal challenge and cites the European Convention on Human Rights, a government minister will decide whether to deport them and ignore the ECHR. It will also mean that refugees will not be able to cite certain sections of the Human Rights Act, when arguing that being flown to Rwanda is unlawful. 

What are the House of Lords amendments?

In the latest stage of pingpong, the House of Lords added another four amendments to Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill, before sending it back to the Commons. Peers insisted on an amendment to restore the jurisdiction of domestic courts in relation to the safety of Rwanda and enable them to intervene.

They also renewed their demand for the bill to have “due regard” for domestic and international law and that Rwanda can only be declared safe by the government’s independent monitoring committee.

Other changes included moves to reduce the risk of unaccompanied children being sent to Rwanda and a block on the removal of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking, as well as those who worked with the UK military or government overseas, such as Afghan interpreters.

Refugee campaigner and Labour peer Lord Dubs, who fled the Nazis as a child on the Kindertransport scheme, said: “To send a child wrongly assessed as being an adult to Rwanda would be an appalling dereliction of our responsibilities to vulnerable young people.”

The charity Freedom from Torture hit out at MPs for voting down the Lords amendments. Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy, said: “It’s utterly shameful to see MPs continue to vote down vital amendments brought forward by the House of Lords, including bringing this draconian piece of legislation in line with international law and protecting vulnerable people like torture survivors and children.

“We urgently need the government to abandon this cruel ‘cash for humans’ deal once and for all and get on with the job at hand – restoring the right to asylum in the UK and clearing the backlog, so that those currently stuck in limbo can recover and rebuild their lives.”

How did my MP vote on the Rwanda Bill?

The Safety of Rwanda Bill vote by MPs on 17 April was on the four latest amendments made by the House of Lords. This is towards the end of the legislative process. MPs have already voted on the Rwanda Bill at the second reading, and also on amendments made by other members of the House of Commons.

House of Lords amendment 1D which says the bill should have ‘due regard’ for domestic and international law

This was voted down by 304 ayes to 239 noes.

House of Lords amendments 3E which says the independent monitoring committee must declare Rwanda safe.

This was voted down by 299 ayes to 238 noes.

House of Lords amendment 6D which says asylum decision makers must consider if Rwanda has become unsafe for asylum seekers.

This was voted down by 310 ayes to 240 noes.

House of Lords amendment 10D which would provide an exemption for agents, allies and employees of the UK overseas

This was voted down by 302 to 244.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.