Peers inflict crushing first defeat against Rishi Sunak's Rwanda treaty: Lords vote 214 to 171 to delay Government's flagship immigration policy

The motion seeks to delay the treaty underpinning the Safety of Rwanda Bill

Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan faced its first test in the House of Lords as peers voted to delay a key plank of the Bill – in what is the latest obstacle to the government’s flagship immigration policy.

Peers back the delay 214 votes to 171 following a report last week which recommended that the treaty should not be ratified until ministers can show the country is safe.

Although ministers could take steps to ignore the motion, which is largely symbolic, it provides the first public indication of the scale of opposition to the government’s new legislation in the upper chamber. 

It will be seen as a barometer of the way the Upper House is likely to treat another crucial element of the Prime Minister’s package – the Safety of Rwanda Bill – when it is debated next week.

The treaty, signed by Home Secretary James Cleverly in Kigali last month, sets out a range of safeguards over the treatment of migrants sent to Rwanda.

Peers have inflicted a crushing defeat against Rishi Sunak ‘s Rwanda deportation plan

Labour former attorney general Lord Goldsmith today tabled a motion seeking to delay the treaty underpinning the Safety of Rwanda Bill – throwing a fresh obstacle in front of the government’s plans

Former Labour attorney general Lord Goldsmith, who chairs the Lords international agreements committee, tabled moves to postpone its ratification until a series of laws and other measures have been put in place.

The Committee recommended that Parliament should not ratify the treaty, insisting that safeguards are ‘incomplete’ and must be implemented before the deal can be endorsed. 

Lord Goldsmith told peers: ‘We are not saying the treaty should never be ratified.

‘But we are saying that Parliament should have the opportunity to scrutinise the treaty and implementation of its measures in full before it makes a judgment about Rwanda is safe.’

Peter Goldsmith, an attorney general under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who laid the motion, said the vote marked the first time that lawmakers in the Lords had used parliamentary powers to vote to halt the ratification of a treaty.

Debating the motion ahead of the vote, Liberal Democrat frontbencher Lord Fox said: ‘There is more than enough reason to delay the ratification of the treaty until the conditions for its lawful operation are actually in place.’

The vote came after the Prime Minister gave a press conference in which urged peers to pass the Rwanda Bill swiftly, challenging them not to ‘frustrate the will of the people’.

Labour frontbencher Lord Coaker hit out at Mr Sunak for seeming to instruct the House of Lords, saying: ‘Nobody, not least the Prime Minister, should hold press conferences lecturing us about what our role is, when all we seek to do is to improve it and to act in our proper constitutional role.’

He said the Government has not provided evidence that elements of the treaty have been implemented in Rwanda.

‘The Government has not provided the evidence to support what it is saying needs to be done, either to the committee or to (the House of Lords).

‘So how can we determine whether Rwanda is safe when the very things upon which that is dependent have not been provided to us? And that’s what the committee is saying.’

The Upper House (pictured at the state opening in November) debated the bill today

The Rwanda Bill was approved by the Commons last week despite major revolts from Tory MPs who demanded it was made tougher.

As it was introduced to the Lords on Thursday there were shouts of ‘shame’ from the red benches.

The Upper House is set to start scrutinising the law at the end of the month, but the process will not be complete until at least mid-March.

Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who cross the English Channel and land on England’s southern coast in small, inflatable boats would be sent on planes to Rwanda.

Sunak has said he wants the first deportation flights to leave in the next few months – ahead of a general election expected in the second half of this year – so he can meet one of his five pledges to ‘stop the boats’.

In an effort to overcome resistance from the courts who have ruled the plan is unlawful, Britain signed a treaty last year with Rwanda, in which it agreed to address safety concerns, and the government is trying to pass legislation through parliament that would block legal challenges to deportations.