UK lower house passes bill to send some migrants to Rwanda

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak overcame a Conservative Party rebellion and got his plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda through the House of Commons on Wednesday (Jan. 17).

Lawmakers voted 320 to 276 to back a bill intended to overcome a U.K. Supreme Court block on the Rwanda plan.

The vote came a day after some 60 members of Sunak’s governing Conservatives rebelled in an effort to make the legislation tougher.

The bill now goes to the unelected House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, where Sunak’s Conservatives do not have a majority.

The Lords can delay and amend legislation but ultimately can’t overrule the elected House of Commons.

More than 29,000 people made the perilous journey in 2023, down from 42,000 the year before.

Five people died in the night of January 13 to January 14 while trying to launch a boat from northern France in the dark and winter cold.