Setback for Sunak’s Rwanda bill pledge as peers vote for two months of scrutiny

Members of Lords criticise PM’s ‘bizarre’ and ‘vacuous’ calls for swift approval of legislation to ensure deportation flights by spring

Rishi Sunak’s pledge to begin flying asylum seekers to Rwanda by spring looked more distant than ever after members of the House of Lords approved a timetable that would not see the bill passed before late March.

On Thursday the prime minister urged peers to pass his asylum bill as soon as possible after its approval by the Commons on Wednesday night, telling them that it reflected the “will of the people”.