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LONDON: The UK鈥檚 House of Lords rejected the government鈥檚 plan to send migrants to Rwanda for asylum processing in a vote on Wednesday after it approved two amendments to the legislation.

The upper chamber of Parliament voted in favor of a proposal to exempt Afghans who worked with UK military personnel from being deported to the East African country, and of another that would see a committee established to monitor safety in Rwanda.

The bill will return to the House of Commons early next week, where MPs have previously refused to back amendments made to it by the Lords. 

The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has made the Rwanda scheme a core part of his pledge to lower illegal migration across the English Channel before the next general election, says the bill in its current form is 鈥渢he right way forward.鈥�

However, a previous version of the scheme was rejected by the UK Supreme Court in 2023 as unlawful. 

The plan has also drawn cross-party criticism for its expense, worries about its effectiveness, the government鈥檚 inability to implement it and for the way it treats people in need of asylum, including former Afghan soldiers, translators and their families, many of whom risked their lives to assist the UK during operations in Afghanistan.

Numerous Afghans have been identified as having been threatened with deportation to Rwanda for entering the UK illegally, with many claiming safe legal routes either don鈥檛 work in practice or don鈥檛 exist.

The Independent highlighted the cases of a former Afghan Air Force pilot hailed as a 鈥減atriot鈥� by former colleagues, who crossed the Channel in a small boat, and of two former Afghan special forces soldiers belonging to units known as 鈥淭riples鈥� run by the British Army, who were wrongly denied assistance by the UK Ministry of Defence.

Along with reporting by Lighthouse Reports and Sky News, hundreds of other former Triples soldiers have also been identified hiding in Pakistan, awaiting an MoD review after many were refused entry to the UK.

The Lords amendment on protections from deportation for former Afghan military personnel was proposed by a former UK defense secretary, Lord Browne of Ladyton, and supported by two former chiefs of the UK鈥檚 defense staff.

Earlier on Wednesday Home Office minister Michael Tomlinson said peers should reject the amendments to 鈥渟end a clear signal that if you come to the UK illegally, you will not be able to stay.鈥�

But Lord Browne told the Lords: 鈥淣ow is the time to give these people the sanctuary their bravery has earned.鈥�

He added the government needed to be reminded of 鈥渢he political consequences of their failure not to give either an assurance that is bankable or to accept this amendment. Because there is little, if any, support in your lordships鈥� House for their failure to do this and there (is) certainly no majority support in the country to treat these brave people this way.鈥�

Lord Coaker, shadow home affairs spokesperson in the Lords, added: 鈥淲hy on earth would the government oppose that particular amendment? It鈥檚 one of those things that is completely unbelievable.鈥�

On Wednesday, Conservative MP Sir Robert Buckland told the Commons: 鈥淭here is still a class of people who have served this country, who have been brave and have exposed themselves to danger, who have not yet been dealt with.

鈥淢any of them are in Pakistan, and I think that it would have been helpful to have perhaps seen an amendment in lieu to deal with that point.鈥�