UK's Rwanda bill nears critical vote

Lawmakers in the United Kingdom's Parliament were preparing for a "robust" debate on a bill to allow the government to send asylum-seekers who arrive without permission in Britain to Rwanda on Wednesday, ahead of a crucial vote to approve the controversial policy in the evening, after two Conservative Party deputy chairmen and a ministerial aide resigned over the issue.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced the biggest Conservative Party rebellion seen under his leadership on Tuesday, when Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith and parliamentary private secretary Jane Stevenson stepped down to vote for changes they said would toughen up the Rwanda bill, with 60 more Tory lawmakers pledging to back the rebel amendments. More votes on more alterations to the plan were expected on Wednesday.

The Rwanda plan, agreed in April 2022 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson, was designed to deter migrants from coming to Britain illegally and break the business model of people smugglers. Under the plan, anyone who arrived in Britain illegally after Jan 1, 2022, faced being sent to Rwanda.