Illegal Migration Bill: Ministers overturn Lords changes

The government has again overturned changes to its Illegal Migration Bill made by the House of Lords, despite some Tory MPs rebelling.

The Commons voted to reverse detention limits for children suggested by peers, as well as protections for potential modern slavery victims.

Thirteen Conservatives opposed the decision on modern slavery, fewer than had been predicted.

The bill now returns to the Lords, who could continue to demand changes.

In votes scheduled for late on Monday evening, they will be able to approve the amendments again, or suggest similar alternatives. Debate began around 22.15 BST, and votes could continue into the early hours of Tuesday.

But if they back down, it will pave the way for the legislation to become law before MPs begin their summer recess later this week.

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The bill, backed by MPs in March, is central to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's high-profile pledge to "stop" small boats crossing the English Channel.

It would place a legal duty on the government to detain and remove those arriving in the UK illegally, either to Rwanda or another "safe" third country.

The Rwanda plan was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal last month, but ministers are challenging the judgement.

MPs have been locked in a battle over the final shape of the bill with the House of Lords, where it has been repeatedly amended by opposition peers.

They voted down nine amendments made by the Lords last week, including one which would have placed a three-day limit on the time unaccompanied child migrants can be detained before they are deported.

They also overturned a suggested four-day detention limit suggested for accompanied children, and a ban on LGBT migrants from being deported to Rwanda and nine other, mainly African countries.

MPs also voted down an amendment that would have forced the government to create new safe and legal asylum routes within nine months of the bill passing. Ministers have promised to do this by the end of 2024.

'Performative cruelty'

Speaking before the votes, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the Lords amendments would have created "exemptions, qualifications and loopholes" that would make the legislation harder to implement.

He said the power to detain people who are due to be deported was necessary to stop people absconding, and exempting families with children would leave a "gaping hole" in the system.

Tim Loughton, one of 11 Tory MPs to rebel over child detention limits, said government promises that detention would be for the shortest period possible should be written into the legislation.

Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the bill was "unworkable" and an exercise in "performative cruelty".

He added that Rwanda would only be able to take a tiny fraction of the migrants arriving in small boats, meaning the threat of being deported there would not deter people from making the journey.