PARLIAMENTARY ping-pong over the fate of vulnerable refugees dragged on today with ministers resisting House of Lords amendments to their Rwanda legislation.

A third round of deadlock dragged on after peers had overnight reinstated demands for court oversight of deportations of asylum-seekers to the African country and exemptions for victims of modern slavery.

But MPs were set to give renewed backing to the plan, which has become totemic for Rishi Sunak’s leadership as a general election nears.

He is determined to see flights full of refugees taking off for Rwanda in the spring, before the country goes to the polls.

Since the limits of House of Lords resistance have been all-but reached, he is likely to get his way, using RAF aircraft for the purpose.

Already the scheme has cost hundreds of millions of pounds without a single refugee being deported. 

The Supreme Court had ruled deportations to Rwanda unlawful, a judgement the new law overrides.

Treasury minister Laura Trott said that  “we will be ready for flights to take off in the spring when the legislation passes.”

Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper reiterated the party’s opposition to the plan, albeit on purely practical grounds.

The government was “warned repeatedly about the cost and weaknesses of the Rwanda scheme,” she said, adding that “meanwhile the serious problems with our border security, with criminal gangs and rising asylum hotel bills have all got worse and worse.”