Summary
We are now closing the blog.
Here is a summary of events today.
Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda deportation bill passes its final Commons hurdle by 320 votes to 276 - a majority 44.
The bill will now go to the House of Lords where it is there is more chance of it being amended, partly because the government does not have a majority there and partly because the chamber is full of lawyers who take safeguarding rights particularly seriously.
The government said (prior to the vote) that if the Rwanda bill is passed, it will scrap guidance to civil servants saying they must always obey injunctions from the European court of human rights (rule 39 orders) blocking deportations.
New guidance on ECHR injunctions puts officials in an “invidious position”, Prospect, a union representing civil servants has said. It has condemned the new guidance being issued to officials about injunctions from the European court of human rights.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has said he will return UK taxpayers’ money if no asylum seekers arrive. The UK has paid £240m to Rwanda, with a further £50m to come. No asylum seekers have so far been sent to the country. Kagame added efforts to implement asylum plan cannot “drag on”.
Labour has said the UK should quickly take up Rwanda’s president on his offer to return money spent on deportation scheme.
Robert Jenrick’s amendment was defeated, but it saw 61 Conservative rebels back it. Yesterday, 60 Tories backed Sir Bill Cash’s amendment.
Peers have said it’s too early to know if Rwanda has made changes needed to address supreme court’s deportation concerns.
David Cameron has denied Rwanda bill makes UK an embarrassment on world stage. He made the comments during a Q&A at Davos.
Suella Braverman strongly attacked ECHR, prompting claims from opposition MPs she’s campaigning for Tory leadership.
Labour condemned No 10 for saying it will allocate more judges to asylum cases when rape victims wait years for trials to start.
Keir Starmer led tributes to the Labour MP Tony Lloyd who has died, paying tribute to his “desire to make the world a better, fairer place”.
The UK government says it’s seeking costs from Scottish government to pay legal fees from gender bill challenge.
Earlier at PMQs Keir Starmer labelled Rwanda plan a “farce” and said spending £400m on a removals problem that does not remove anyone is not a plan.
Plans to change the Whitehall code of conduct to facilitate Rwanda deportations has been dismissed as “madness” by Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, the union that represents senior civil servants.
Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson claims Rwanda policy will have 94% deterrent effect on small boat crossings.
Conservative former minister Dr Liam Fox has been accused of using a “misogynistic term” when he described SNP MP home affairs spokeswoman Alison Thewliss’s speech as “hysterical”.
Here is the moment the results of the votes on the government’s Rwanda bill are announced.
