Rishi Sunak to hold surprise Downing Street press conference today
RISHI Sunak will hold a surprise press conference this morning to demand the House of Lords back off and let his flagship Rwanda Bill pass.
The PM will address the country from Downing Street ahead of a final parliamentary showdown over the Government’s deportation plan for asylum seekers.
The Rwanda Bill is seen as vital to the Prime Minister’s pledge to “stop the boats”[/caption]Stubborn peers have blocked the legislation by repeatedly amending the Bill, costing the Government three weeks of delay.
The Prime Minister last week refused to recommit to his spring deadline for getting flights off the ground.
But he vowed to keep Parliament sitting late into the night if necessary to pass the legislation, which seeks to make the plan legally watertight.
The PM said his patience with those blocking the Bill had “run thin”, adding: “No more prevarication, no more delay.
“We will sit there and vote until it’s done.”
The Bill seeks to overcome the objections of the Supreme Court by forcing judges to deem Rwanda as a safe country for asylum seekers and allowing ministers to ignore emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights.
Last week, peers amended the Bill to include an exemption for Afghan nationals who assisted British troops and a provision meaning Rwanda cannot be treated as safe unless it is deemed so by an independent monitoring body.
MPs are expected to vote to overturn those changes this afternoon before sending the Bill back to the House of Lords.
The “parliamentary ping pong” – the process whereby the Bill is batted between the Commons and the Lords – will continue until they can agree the final wording.