Rishi Sunak pressing ahead with bill to curb small boats

The government will press ahead with its Illegal Migration Bill, despite it already suffering 15 defeats in the Lords, Downing Street has said.

It said the bill, targeting small boat crossings, was the "right approach".

Migrant crossings from France set a new record in June - pushing the total for the year above 11,000.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have urged ministers to back changes to the legislation to ensure a "just" and "compassionate" asylum policy.

The prime minister's official spokesman said he was not going to respond to individual opinions.

But he said Mr Sunak was "clear that stopping the boats, stopping the cruel cycle of vulnerable people being exploited by criminal gangs, is the fair and compassionate thing to do".

Peers are expected to inflict further defeats on the government as they debate the bill for a third and final day before it returns to the Commons.

The government has indicated it is ready to reverse the Lords' changes to the legislation in the Commons, where they have a large majority.

The bill, backed by MPs in March, is central to Rishi Sunak's high-profile pledge to "stop" small boats crossing the English Channel - one of his five key pledges as prime minister.

It would place a legal duty on the government to detain and remove migrants arriving in the UK illegally, either to Rwanda or another "safe" third country.

The government has stressed it remains committed to its plan to remove migrants to Rwanda, and has said it will challenge a Court of Appeal ruling last week that this was unlawful.

On Tuesday, Mr Sunak told the Liaison Committee of senior MPs the government's case would be made in the Supreme Court "confidently and vigorously".

In the first six months of 2023, 11,434 people were detected making the journey from France, according to provisional Home Office figures.

The June total of 3,824 was the highest since records began in 2018. In June last year, 3,140 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.

Despite the record June number, the total for the first half of the year is 10% lower than for January-June 2022 (12,747).

In January, Mr Sunak set out five pledges which he said would address "the people's priorities", including passing new laws to stop Channel crossings. But he did not put a timescale on achieving the promise.

Last month, he insisted his plan was "starting to work".

Labour has accused the prime minister of chasing "short-term headlines instead of doing the hard work needed to tackle the problem".

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The numbers of dangerous crossings are rising again, hotel costs are spiralling, all while the government's flagship Rwanda policy unravels in front of their eyes."