Five migrants have died in an attempt to cross the English Channel just hours after Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill was passed by Parliament.
The French coast guard confirmed there was a failed attempt to cross the Channel on Tuesday morning. The incident happened just hours after the prime minister’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was given the green light after peers caved to pressure and passed the government’s immigration bill.
Just one amendment was left standing as parliamentarians sat through a long night of votes on the asylum legislation on Monday. However Lords withdrew the amendment on the second round of voting, conceding that they must now “acknowledge the primacy of the elected house”.
The amendment would have made sure that an independent monitoring committee declared Rwanda a safe country before asylum seekers could be sent there.
Earlier, prime minister Rishi Sunak said flights to Rwanda have been booked and will take off by July, “no ifs, no buts”.