Rishi Sunak hints he could overrule Lords on small boats bill

PM could use Parliament Act to ram legislation through – as peers threaten to delay his asylum crackdown

Rishi Sunak has suggested he is willing to overrule the House of Lords and ram the small boats bill through parliament amid opposition to his plans.

The prime minister hinted he was open to using the nuclear option of the Parliament Act to defy the upper chamber and push through the Illegal Migration Bill.

Mr Sunak said the plan detain and deport those arriving on small boats have been backed “very strongly” in the Commons, as he warned against any attempt to thwart the “incredibly important” legislation.

Asked twice if he was willing to use the Parliament Act, the PM told The Telegraph: “It passed the House of Commons very strongly. And my intention is to see this piece of legislation on the statute books so that we can start using it.”

On Monday peers called for the highly-controversial bill to be delayed until an impact assessment is published, while the Liberal Democrats have previously attempted to block the legislation.

A senior Tory source told The Independent the government would “stand firm” and refuse to “water down” the bill if it comes back to Commons with wrecking amendments.

Using the Parliament Act to overrule the Lords if the bill was opposed would be highly unusual. The last time it was used was the Hunting Act of 2004, when the New Labour government banned fox hunting.

Peers threatened to delay the small boats crackdown bill until the government publishes the “facts and figures” showing the financial impact of the controversial proposals. Home Office minister Lord Murray was in the Lords as he repeatedly said it would be “published in due course”.

The bill faces a rocky ride in the Lords, with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby previously condemning it as “morally unacceptable and politically impractical”.

Peers have discussed amendments to the list of countries or territories where a person may be removed, with suggestions to explicitly state that LGBT+ people should not be taken to some of them due to fears of persecution.

A separate amendment also suggested removing Rwanda from the list given legal action to challenge the plan.

Rishi Sunak on board cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover (PA Wire)

It comes as Mr Sunak insisted that his plan to tackle the problem of small boats in the English Channel is “starting to work”, as he hailed a 20 per cent fall in asylum seekers making the crossing.

The PM also claimed that a 90 per cent drop in the number of Albanians in small boats was “proof” migrants can discouraged from making the crossing by his policies – but experts said it was “too early” to tell if there was a deterrent effect.

Hailing the impact of his returns agreement with Albania, Mr Sunak said: “This is proof that our deterrence strategy can work. When people know that if they come here illegally they won’t get to stay, they stop coming.”

The Independent understands that many Border Force staff believe the reduction in crossings is largely due to poor weather conditions in the Channel.

Mr Sunak announced that two more barges will be used to house asylum seekers off the coast of Britain, despite Tory MP Richard Drax lashing out at “quasi-prison” conditions on offshore vessels.

Ex-justic secretary Robert Buckland and other Tory MPs have warned that the lack of widespread returns deals remains “a problem”. Despite the fall in Albanians making the crossing, there has been a surge in Turkish earthquake victims in small boats.

Home Office figures published yesterday show 389 Turkish nationals crossed the Channel since April, while 610 Afghans and 408 Iranians also arrived.