Rwanda legislation: What's next as MPs have backed Rishi Sunak's bill?

Rishi Sunak's Rwanda legislation has been approved by MPs, but the bill still has a long way to go before it becomes law.

The legislation will now be pushed further through the parliamentary process, which includes the House of Lords, parliamentary ping pong, and then potentially a nod from the King, reports Sky News.

Next steps

After passing its third reading in the House of Commons, the Rwanda legislation will go through the exact same processes in the House of Lords.

This includes an initial vote, and then if it passes, peers can propose amendments. These would then be debated and voted on. Due to the Lords regulating itself, the restrictions on the amount of time that can be taken to debate are looser, and so things can move slightly slower than in the Commons. 

This includes an initial vote, and then if it passes, peers can propose amendments. These would then be debated and voted on. Due to the Lords regulating itself, the restrictions on the amount of time that can be taken to debate are looser, and so things can move slightly slower than in the Commons. 

Expected timeline

Another question is when the Lords will start considering the bill, and when voting will take place, Sky News notes.

As with many things to do with the Westminster parliamentary process, very little is set in stone and the best we can do is take an educated guess, it reports.

Citing a Labour source, the UK-based media outlet wrote that the earliest the Lords could have a debate and a vote is in the week starting 29 January.

The next step - when the upper chamber debates the bill and any potential changes - could take place between 12 February and 14 February, when the Commons is in recess.

The next step - when the upper chamber debates the bill and any potential changes - could take place between 12 February and 14 February, when the Commons is in recess.

The next set of voting in the Lords would likely take place towards the end of February or the start of March. If the government gets the bill passed, then it is likely to take a few months for things to be put in place for flights to Rwanda to take off.

Could the Lords block the bill?

In short, yes.

The House of Lords has the power to block the Safety of Rwanda Bill. Members could simply vote down the legislation, although that is quite unlikely.

It could also be held up during the ping pong stage, where the two houses add and remove each other's amendments on repeated occasions.

The Lords' ability to hold up legislation is normally balanced by the fact that a government can reintroduce a bill in a subsequent parliament session - which would mean after a King's Speech - and pass it without the Lords' consent.

But this step - included in the Parliament Act - also requires a minimum of a year between the first Commons vote on the legislation, and it passing the same House in the subsequent parliament. Because an election needs to be called in December this year at the latest, it is possible for the Lords to wait out the clock until then - preventing the use of the Parliament Act.

A committee set up to evaluate international treaties on behalf of the Lords has recommended the treaty upon which the Safety of Rwanda Bill is based should not be ratified.

The International Agreements Committee said ratification "should wait until parliament is satisfied that the protections it provides have been fully implemented since parliament is being asked to make a judgement, based on the treaty, about whether Rwanda is safe".