LONDON 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday called on the House of Lords to pass his controversial Rwanda bill, saying it is time now to start flights to the East African country.

Speaking at a news conference at 10 Downing Street, Sunak said: “We are making progress to stop the boats. But now it’s past time to start the flights.”

His remarks came a day after a majority of lawmakers in the House of Commons backed the bill that would allow the government to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, approved by a vote of 320-276, was submitted last month and is intended to overcome a UK Supreme Court block on the plan. The court had ruled in November that the policy was illegal as Rwanda was not a safe country for refugees.

As many as eleven Conservative MPs voted against the bill, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, while 18 abstained, including former Prime Minister Theresa May and Lee Anderson who resigned Wednesday from his role as Conservative deputy chairman.

Sunak urged the House of Lords, the upper chamber, to pass the bill, saying "this is an urgent national priority."

"It's time to take back control of our borders and defeat the people's smugglers, it's time to restore people's trust that the system is fair," he added.


Referring to the vote, Sunak said that his party proved that they are "completely united" in wanting to stop the boats.

'Only long term solution to have deterrent'

The prime minister said he is "proud of the progress" they have made in tackling this issue," adding that for the first time the number of small boat arrivals into Britain went down.

In January 2023, Sunak counted tackling small boat crossings by irregular migrants across the British Channel one of the five priorities of the government, as more than 45,000 migrants arrived in the UK in 2022.

Last year saw decrease in the numbers as nearly 30,000 migrants crossed the Channel, over a third less than in 2022, and slightly higher than the number in 2021, when more than 28,000 arrived in the UK.

"That didn't happen by accident. It happened because we put a lot of work in and we made a lot of decisions," he said.

The British premier mentioned that they are starting to close the bank accounts of 7,000 people "who shouldn't be here" and returned 20,000 people back to their own countries.

"Last year, we created new deals with France with Turkey to smash the gangs upstream," he said, adding: "The only long term solution to this problem is to have a deterrent."

Asked if a plane will take off to Rwanda before the general election, Sunak said he has been "crystal clear" that they want to do this "as quickly as possible."

Labour Party has 'no plan'

Sunak also accused the main opposition Labour Party of having "no plan" to tackle the migrants issue, saying it would take the country back "to square one."

"Their priority is not stopping the boats, but stopping the planes removing people who have no right to be here," he said.

He added that if the Labour Party were in charge, there would be no treaty, no bill, and "12 months of progress will be squandered."