Minister suggests borderline racism to blame for Lords blocking Rwanda bill – UK politics live

PM to publicly warn peers to back down but treatment of Afghans remains a concern for the Lords

In his Today programme interview Andrew Mitchell, the deputy foreign secretary, suggested that Rishi Sunak would use his press conference later to say how many people the government expects to sent to Rwanda later this year.

Mitchell said he was confident that the policy would have a deterrent effect on the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats. Asked ‘what kinds of numbers” the government was envisaging, Mitchell replied:

You’ll have to wait for the prime minister to set that out in the press conference later today.