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Added on the 12/12/2023 20:41:56 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government wins the backing of the elected House of Commons for his controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda. The government fended off right-wing Conservative rebels to win the final vote on the legislation in the parliament's lower chamber by 320 votes to 276. SOUNDBITE
Britain is to send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces, as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey. SOUNDBITE
Protesters in London try to block the removal of migrants from their temporary accommodation, as the UK government began detaining people before controversial deportation flights to Rwanda start. The protesters occupy the road in front of a bus believed to be waiting to take asylum seekers from a hotel in the Peckham area of the British capital to an accommodation barge moored off the south coast of England. A London Metropolitan Police statement said a number of people had been arrested. IMAGES
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tells the House of Commons he has "absolute conviction" in his government's plan to send migrants to Rwanda ahead of a vote in parliament on the bill which has exposed schisms in his ruling Conservative party. The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, if passed, will compel judges to treat Rwanda as a safe third country and proposes giving UK ministers powers to disregard sections of international and British human rights legislation. SOUNDBITE
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he will not allow the European Court of Human Rights to block the government's planned policy of deporting migrants to Rwanda. Speaking after the UK Supreme Court ruled the policy unlawful, he says he will introduce "emergency legislation" to designate Rwanda a safe country. "If the (European Court of Human Rights) chooses to intervene against the express wishes of parliament, I am prepared to do what is necessary to get the flights off" he says. SOUNDBITE