A senior Tory peer has lashed out at the Prime Minister's Rwanda Bill saying there "are dogs in the street that know" the deportation flights are "probably never going to happen".
Ahead of the House of Lords debating the controversial plan to deport some asylum seekers to east Africa, former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Ruth Davidson suggested that even if flights do take off it will make "very little difference" to immigration numbers.
Lady Davidson told BBC Radio 4's Today podcast: "Let's have a debate about immigration, absolutely.
"Every sovereign nation should be in charge of who comes in; not everybody has a right to go to every country in the world - I completely get all of that.
"But where is the balance in this, rather than some of the language that is being used, some of the knots that people are getting into?
"And this thing about putting people on planes to Rwanda.
"I mean, there are dogs in the street that know that, one, it is probably never going to happen.
"And two, if it does, it is going to be a number so small that it makes very little difference to the bottom line."
It comes after Lord Carlile, a former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said the Rwanda Bill represents “a step towards totalitarianism”.
It is expected that peers will debate the legislation in three sessions, the last of which will be in mid March.
At a press conference in Downing Street, he said: “It’s now time for the Lords to pass this Bill. This is an urgent national priority.
“The treaty with Rwanda is signed and the legislation which deems Rwanda a safe country has been passed unamended in our elected chamber.
“There is now only one question. Will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected House? Or will they get on board and do the right thing?”
