Rishi Sunak challenges House of Lords to accept ‘the will of the people’ and pass Rwanda bill – as it happened

Rishi Sunak holds a press conference about the Rwanda bill. Photograph: Reuters

5.45pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• Rishi Sunak has urged the House of Lords to swiftly pass his controversial Rwanda deportation bill, claiming it is “the will of the people” and insisting the Conservative party is united on the issue despite this week’s mass rebellions. He was speaking at a Downing Street press conference. See 12.04pm for a summary and analysis.

• A leading barrister and cross-bench peer, Alex Carlile, has condemned the government’s Rwanda bill as a “step towards totalitarianism” and signalled that the House of Lords plans to resist the legislation.

• Thousands of public sector workers have staged pickets and marches across Northern Ireland in the biggest strike in living memory.

Michael Tomlinson, minister for illegal migration and James Cleverly, the home secretary, in the audience at Rishi Sunak’s press conference. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

5.38pm GMT

More than half of Britons wrongly think illegal migration as high or higher than legal migration, poll suggests

The number of people who arrive in the UK illegally is far smaller than the number who arrive legally.

In the year ending September 2023 there were 45,081 illegal arrrivals, according to this Home Office report (which describes them as irregular arrivals).

According to the latest ONS figures, the total number of immigrants coming to the UK in the year ending June 2023 was 1.2m.

Allowing for the 508,000 people who emigrated, net migration was 672,000 in the year ending June 2023.

These figures include people who arrive illegally and claim asylum, but they are only a small proportion of the overall total. As this chart shows, most people coming to the UK either have a study or work visa, or are a dependant of someone who does.

Breakdown of migration figures Photograph: ONS

Yet, according to polling from YouGov, voters are more likely to think (wrongly) that more people come to the UK illegally than legally than to think (rightly) that more people arrive legally. In fact, more than half of Britons wrongly think illegal migration is as higher or higher than legal migration.

People who voted Conservative in 2019 are more likely to be wrong than people who voted Labour.

And only 23% of all voters, and 16% of people who voted Tory in 2019, correctly realised that many more people come to the UK legally than illegally, the poll suggests.

Do Britons believe more migrants come to the UK legally or illegally?

All Britons

More come illegally: 45%

More come legally: 34%

About the same: 8%

2019 Con voters

More come illegally: 56%

More come legally: 27%

About the same: 8%

2019 Lab voters

More come illegally: 33%

More come legally: 44%

About the same: 7%

Do Britons believe more migrants come to the UK legally or illegally?

All Britons
More come illegally: 45%
More come legally: 34%
About the same: 8%

2019 Con voters
More come illegally: 56%
More come legally: 27%
About the same: 8%

2019 Lab voters
More come illegally: 33%
More… pic.twitter.com/KJfjt0lL1o

— YouGov (@YouGov) January 18, 2024

These figures go a long way to explain why the Rwanda bill has become such a priority for Rishi Sunak.

Updated at 5.46pm GMT