The immigration minister said the Government will not be making further compromises, amid a tussle with the Lords.
The Government is not planning further compromises on its plans to tackle the small boats crisis, the immigration minister has said, as the stand-off with the House of Lords continues.
Robert Jenrick told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that ministers were not planning to make further compromises, after peers pressed for further changes to the Illegal Migration Bill.
Members of the Lords want further concessions on limits to the detention of children, modern slavery protections and the provision of safe and legal routes for refugees to the UK.
The Lords inflicted a string of fresh defeats on the Government this week over the much-criticised Bill, which ministers insist is integral to efforts to tackle small boats crossings in the Channel.
It means the continuation of the parliamentary tussle over the Bill, known as ping-pong, where the legislation is batted between the Lords and Commons, until agreement is reached.
The Commons had overturned a raft of earlier revisions by the unelected chamber, despite rebellions by Tory MPs concerned about the flagship reforms.
But Mr Jenrick told the BBC that critics of the Bill had not put forward any “credible alternative”.
“It’s incumbent on those who choose to criticise our approach to provide an alternative.
“It’s not a serious or grown-up way to conduct a debate to say, ‘well we have concerns about Rwanda’, ‘we don’t like the compliant environment’ – ‘We don’t want this, we don’t want to’, but not to come up with an alternative.”
The Bill now heads back to the Commons where MPs will consider the latest changes made by peers.
At Business Questions, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt confirmed there would be time set aside to debate the Bill on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week before Parliament’s summer recess begins on Thursday.
