Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted his Rwanda plan will finally get through parliament on Monday, telling reporters: “We will sit there and vote until it’s done.”
The controversial scheme, which aims to see asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats deported to the African nation, has faced setback after setback, with numerous court challenges and multiple rounds of ping pong between the Commons and the Lords.
But Mr Sunak said “everyone’s patience with this has run thin”, and come next week, there would be “no more prevarication, no more delay”.
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The flagship scheme was first announced by Boris Johnson two years ago this month, but despite millions of pounds already being paid to Rwanda, not one flight has taken off.
Its future looked uncertain last November when the UK’s Supreme Court ruled the scheme “unlawful”.
But the prime minister – who has made “stopping the boats” a central component of his leadership – brought in new legislation for parliament to deem Rwanda a “safe country” and introduced a treaty with the nation to try to calm fears about the plan, pledging to get flights off in the spring.
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The bill caused a rift in his own party, with those on the right claiming it wasn’t tough enough and more centrist Tories concerned it went too far, but Mr Sunak managed to get it through the Commons.
However, he then faced huge opposition in the House of Lords, with peers repeatedly sending the legislation back with their own amendments.
The bill will return to MPs on Monday, but the prime minister insisted this would be the last day of any parliamentary fighting and the scheme would become law.
“Everyone has tried to block us getting this bill through,” Mr Sunak told reporters. “And that’s enormously frustrating.
“Everyone’s patience with this has run thin. Mine certainly has. And so our intention now is to get this done on Monday. No more prevarication, no more delay.
“We are going to get this done on Monday and we will sit there and vote until it’s done.”
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He added: “We’re not deterred… we’re going to get this bill passed and then we will work to get flights off so we can build that deterrent, because that is the only way to resolve this issue.
“You care about stopping the boats, you’ve got to have a deterrent. You’ve got to have somewhere that you can send people so that they know if they come here illegally, they won’t get to stay. It’s as simple as that.”
Mr Sunak was speaking as he announced new measures intended to end “sick note culture” and get more Britons working.
