We will push Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill through Parliament in two days, say ministers

Ministers will use Tories’ Commons majority of 52 to overturn all 10 amendments tabled by the Lords

Ministers are planning to pass Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill in two days next week without accepting any of the Lords’ amendments, The Telegraph understands.
James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, is expected to signal on Monday that the Government will seek to overturn in the Commons all 10 amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill that were passed, some with 100-plus majorities, by the Lords earlier this month.
The Bill is central to the Prime Minister’s pledge to stop the boats by getting the first deportation flights off to Rwanda after legal challenges to the scheme delayed it for nearly two years.
Mr Sunak, who has a working majority of 52, is expected to secure the backing of the Commons to reverse the Lords’ amendments before the Bill returns to the Lords on Wednesday.
A government source said: “We have been clear we will not accept any amendments that disrupt, delay or destroy the legislation. It is robust and effective but remains within the bounds of international law.”
In the first stage of the so-called “parliamentary ping pong” between the two Houses of Parliament, peers are expected to resurrect at least half a dozen of the amendments that will be backed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, along with dozens of crossbenchers led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and some Tory rebels.
The Government is, however, marshalling its peers to try to face down the amendments in what it hopes will be a repeat of manoeuvres in the Lords that forced through Mr Sunak’s first “stop the boats” bill, now on the statute book as the Illegal Migration Act.
Ministers are said to be confident of pushing the Bill through in two days but, if they fail and the Lords amends the Bill for a second time, they have left open in private discussions between the whips’ offices the possibility of delaying the second stage of “ping pong” until after Easter in April.
Such a delay would spark a backlash from Tory MPs, who would see it as a weakening of the Government’s commitment to getting the flights off to Rwanda. “If they kick it further into the long grass, it would be yet more evidence they know it won’t work so have no desire to implement it,” said one MP.
Home Office officials are under pressure to get the flights off by the end of May. If the legislation was delayed until after Easter, the chances of a first deportation flight by then would be slim because the appeal process is expected to take six to 10 weeks.
It means next week is likely to be one of the most dramatic showdowns between the Lords and Commons for years, as the legislation is seen as critical to the Tories’ fortunes in the run-up to the general election later this year.
The Prime Minister has previously warned the unelected chamber against frustrating the “will of the people” by hampering the passage of the Rwanda Bill after it was approved by MPs.
The Lords subsequently inflicted some of the heaviest defeats the Government has faced, with majorities of more than 100 on amendments that demanded independent checks on the safety of Rwanda and gave migrants greater rights to challenge their deportation.
The Archbishop of Canterbury and Baroness Hale, former president of the Supreme Court, joined Baroness Chakrabarti, a human rights campaigner,  and Baron Clarke, the former chancellor of the exchequer, to form a powerful alliance and lead efforts to amend the Bill.