Peers admitted defeat in their desperate efforts to water down the legislation just before midnight, with one describing the moment as a 'funeral'.
Rishi Sunak has claimed a crucial victory after the Rwanda Bill was finally passed by the House of Lords.
That had been passed by the Lords by 240 to 211, but the elected House deleted it by a margin of 312 to 237. And when peers resumed their sitting, it was clear the fight was over. MPs and peers had togged up with sleeping bags and camp beds, while catering at Westminster was kept open especially. MPs rejected two Lords amendments during voting in the Commons from 5pm, to send the Bill back to the upper House once again.
During the debates, Home Office minister Michael Tomlinson earlier told peers 'enough is enough' as he urged them to relent in making amendments to the Bill. But Mr Sunak admitted that deportations are unlikely to begin for another 10-12 weeks. That would mean July - later than his previous timetable of 'Spring', with Mr Sunak complaining that Labour has been 'blocking at every turn'.
Rishi Sunak told a press conference in Downing Street he was ready to make MPs and peers sit through the night to break the impasse on the crucial legislation Describing the plan as an 'indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the business model of the criminal gangs and save lives', Mr Sunak added: 'Starting from the moment that the Bill passes, we will begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight. We have prepared for this moment.'
'This is one of the most complex operational endeavours the Home Office has carried out. But we are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go, come what may.The delay in the schedule for the Rwanda flights could reduce the possibility of an election before the Autumn, as Mr Sunak suggested he wants to show that he has delivered on the policy.
As well as compelling judges to regard the east African country as safe, it would give ministers the power to ignore emergency injunctions. 'Some of the discussions which have gone on in the Lords about the judicial arrangements, legal arrangements within Rwanda, have been patronising and, in my view, border on racism, so we don't think it's necessary to have that amendment either and that the necessary structures are in place to ensure that the scheme works properly and fairly.'
However, that was regarded as a 'nuclear option', with Labour unwilling to block the legislation entirely.
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