Rwanda flights will not be delayed by peers, vows No10

THE House of Lords' vote to delay the Rwanda Treaty will not prevent the deportation flights starting in the spring, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the vote to delay ratification of the treaty until extra safeguards have been put in place would not “impact our timelines for the progress of the Bill or getting the flights off the ground”.

On Monday, the Lords approved a motion by 214 votes to 171 demanding a delay in the ratification of the new, legally binding treaty signed with Rwanda last month.

They backed a report by their international treaties committee setting out a 10-point action of safeguards that needed to be implemented first.

The treaty underpins the Rwanda Bill, which declares the country safe for asylum seekers, by setting out legal safeguards aimed at correcting the deficiencies identified in Rwanda's asylum system by the Supreme Court.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: “We have assurances from Rwanda that all the measures will be expedited and will be in place by the spring.”

The vote by the Lords is not binding although it will require a statement by the Government to explain why it is not accepting a delay in ratification.

It does, however, show the potential scale of opposition in the Lords with the Bill due for its second reading in the upper house next Monday.

♦ Asylum seekers including Channel migrants should be allowed to work in any job six months after reaching the UK, the Migration Advisory Committee, the Government's official migration advisers, have said. Asylum seekers are currently only entitled to work if they have been waiting more than a year for their asylum claim to be processed.