MPs vote down amendment protecting Afghan heroes from Rwanda deportation.

Rishi Sunak has rejected a plan to stop Afghan heroes who supported British troops from being deported to Rwanda. MPs last night overturned all 10 amendments to the Safety of Rwanda.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL, MATT MATHERS

Bill by the House of Lords, including one that would have exempted anyone who supported British armed forces in an “exposed or meaningful manner” from being deported to the east African country. Some 312 MPs voted against the Lords amendment, with 255 voting in favour, giving the government a majority of 57.

The other amendments overturned included an attempt by peers to ensure the bill complied with domestic and international law, and a requirement that parliament could not declare Rwanda a safe country until the treaty with its promised safeguards was fully implemented.

Ahead of the votes, the prime minister was told it was a “moral imperative” that Afghan heroes who supported British troops should not be deported to Rwanda. Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said it “beggars belief” that the PM was considering putting Afghan heroes on deportation flights. “We owe a debt of gratitude to those who have supported our defence, diplomacy and development abroad, not least in Afghanistan,” Mr Kinnock said. The call to help those who supported UK forces came after a series of reports by The Independent that highlighted the plight of Afghan heroes facing deportation to Rwanda after feeling forced to take dangerous routes to the UK.