Downing Street said it will not be deterred from pushing ahead with the Illegal Migration Bill after its flagship legislation was taken apart once again by peers.
MPs will consider the amendments made by the House of Lords next week after the upper chamber inflicted a total of 20 defeats against the Government’s plans to tackle the small boats crisis.
No 10 said it had recognised from the outset that the proposals would “face a challenge from all sides” but that it stood by the measures contained in the legislation.
The Bill aims to ensure those who arrive in the UK without Government permission will be detained and promptly removed, either to their home country or a third country, such as Rwanda.
In a tough night for the Government, unelected peers on Wednesday imposed a series of further changes to the draft law, having already imposed amendments during earlier votes.
We have recognised that we would face a challenge from all sides, and I think that has been borne out— Prime Minister's official spokesman
The new revisions included reinstating the right of appeal against age assessments for migrants claiming to be children, putting a legal duty on ministers to create safe and legal routes to the UK for refugees and bolstering enforcement against people smugglers.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, spearheaded one of the routs with a cross-party demand for the Government to draw up a 10-year strategy for collaborating internationally to tackle both the refugee crisis which is driving unauthorised migration to the UK, and human trafficking.
Downing Street said the Lords had the right to scrutinise Government policy but that ministers “continue to believe that this Bill is the right and appropriate way to stop the boats”.
Responding to the scale of the defeats in the second chamber, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said: “We have recognised that we would face a challenge from all sides, and I think that has been borne out.
“But we are not deterred by this.
“The Government continues to believe that this is a problem that the public want us to urgently fix and we continue to use all the tools at our disposal to do so.”
Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader, has announced that Lords amendments to the Bill will return to the Commons on Tuesday July 11, with a further session the following week on Monday July 17.
If necessary, Ms Mordaunt said, the Bill will return to the Commons on Tuesday July 18 and on Wednesday July 19, setting the stage for what could be a long stand-off between peers and the Government during so-called parliamentary ping-pong.
The plan to send migrants to Rwanda was dealt another blow recently after the Court of Appeal found it was unlawful, although the Government intends to challenge this ruling before Thursday’s deadline.
Attorney General Victoria Prentis confirmed ministers will apply for permission from the appeal court to challenge the decision.
She said the Government planned to “make robust arguments before the Supreme Court”.
Mr Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his top five priorities ahead of a likely general election next year.
In the first six months of 2023, 11,434 people were detected making the journey across the English Channel from France, according to provisional government figures.
