Politics latest: Rwanda bill delayed after government suffers surprise defeats - as Tory peer calls for election 'sooner rather than later' (2024)

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local election campaign well under way, Labour is still sitting comfortably on a roughly 20-point lead, averaging at 43.5% in the polls, with the Tories on 23.5%.

In third is Reform UK on 12.3%, followed by the Lib Dems on 9.3%.

The Green Party stands at 6.2%, and the SNP on 3.1%.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the trackerhere.

By Faye Brown, political reporter

The government is "working on operationalising" Rwanda flights, a minister has said - amid reports RAF planes could be used for the controversial deportation scheme.

Laura Trott did not deny a story in The Times newspaper which said migrants might have to be flown to the east African nation on RAF Voyagers because the Home Office has failed to find an airline willing to take them.

Asked by Sky News who is going to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, the Treasury minister pointed to comments on Tuesday made by her colleague Laura Farris, a Home Office minister, who said the government is "operationally close to being ready".

Ms Trott added: "I think I'm going to say the same thing that she said yesterday to you, which is that we are working on operationalising this, but we're not going to go into details of how we're going to do that."

Asked if RAF Voyagers will be used, she said: "We will be ready for flights to take off in the spring when the legislation passes."

When it was pointed out that we are now heading towards May, she said: "There are many definitions of spring but we're hoping to get them up and running as quickly as possible."

Read the full story here:

By Adele Robinson, business correspondent

The government has agreed to have an independent expert review of a Post Office IT system predating Horizon, amid claims dozens more sub-postmasters may have been wrongly convicted.

The Capture software was rolled out across branches in the 1990s, years before the notorious Horizon system was introduced.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake has met with a former sub-postmaster and a lawyer representing 35 people who believe they were wrongly accused of stealing.

It was agreed between MPs and the Post Office minister that an independent IT expert would assess evidence claiming to "prove" Capture software was prone to glitches.

Read the full story here:

Over a year ago, Rishi Sunak made five pledges for voters to judge him on.

The prime minister met his promise to halve inflation by the end of 2023.

But with the general election approaching, how is Mr Sunak doing on delivering his other promises?

You can see the progress for yourself below:

By Jennifer Scott, political reporter

Almost one million private renters in England have been handed no-fault evictions since the Conservative government promised to abolish them, new data has shown.

Research carried out by YouGov on behalf of homelessness charity Shelter - and shared exclusively with Sky News - showed that since April 2019 a total of 943,000 people had been given Section 21 notices, which is the equivalent of more than 500 renters every day.

The figures also showed unwanted moves were costing private renters in England £550m a year, with 830,000 people having to move in the last 12 months alone due to either their fixed tenancies coming to an end, being priced out by rent increases or being served with a Section 21.

Add in the soaring upfront costs for rents and deposits and unwanted moves are costing more than £1bn a year - or an average of £1,245 per person.

Polly Neate, Shelter's chief executive, said tenants were "bearing the cost of the government's inaction" and warned any further delays to banning no-fault evictions would see more people "tipped into homelessness".

But Levelling Up minister Jacob Young defended the government. He said abolishing Section 21s was "the biggest change to the private rented sector in more than 30 years" so it "takes time to make sure we get it right".

Read the full story here:

We heard a short while ago from government minister Steve Baker after the Lords passed two more amendments to the Rwanda bill, sending it back to the Commons once again.

He told Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig that "of course" the government is cross that the Lords has amended the bill once again.

"They're just delaying this policy. They seem to be terrified that it will work, and they're doing everything to delay it.

"So, of course, I'm extremely disappointed."

Jon put to Mr Baker that the government has slammed the door on interpreters who worked for us in Afghanistan, and others who the government promised they'd look after, and now face being deported to Rwanda.

He said it's "not quite the case", saying the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Home Office are "running a scheme to resettle Afghans, which I understand has resettled over 16,000 people who supported us".

The minister insisted the government will stand by those who helped our forces abroad, but added: "There's a proper route through the MoD and the Home Office.

"They shouldn't be travelling with people smugglers illegally across the Channel. And that's what we've got to break."

We've just had a response from the home secretary to the votes in the House of Lords tonight, passing two amendments to the Rwanda bill and sending it back to the Commons yet again.

James Cleverly said in a statement: "Terrified that the Rwanda scheme will work, and desperate to delay or disrupt over a hundred votes about stopping the boats, Labour have acted again to block the passage of the Rwanda Bill.

"It's been another politically cynical effort by them, who have no alternative deterrent and no plan to tackle illegal migration, to frustrate the only solution on offer."

He added that Labour is "uncomfortable with tackling immigration" which is why the party will "clearly stop at nothing to stop the planes".

We heard from Tory MPRehman Chishti shortly after the House of Lords passed amendments to the Rwanda bill once again, sending it back to the Commons.

Our political editor Beth Rigbyput to him that the government could have forced MPs to stay in the Commons and vote down the Lords' amendments tonight or tomorrow, but has chosen not to do so.

He replied: "I want to get Rwanda done. And I think Conservative MPs across the board want to see this done."

He went on: "I think the programme motion could easily have ensured that we had a vote tomorrow because, at the end of the day, the public want us to get on and get it done."

Beth put to Mr Chishti that Rishi Sunak said back in November that the Rwanda legislation was an "emergency", and so pushed him on why the government is not recalling MPs.

He replied that it may be because the PM is allowing peers the time to consider it, rather than be seen to be rushing it.

He added: "If you'd asked me, I would have put it in tomorrow, and I would have had a vote on it, and therefore we get those planes off."

On the heels of the government's latest defeats in the House of Lords over the Rwanda bill, we heard from our political editor Beth Rigbyabout what it all means.

She says: "It's quite a surprise because the government, I think, was quite confident. There was an expectation this bill would get passed this week."

She explains that Labour peers had indicated they would not push through more amendments today, but that is not what has happened.

"The nub of means that it is now going back to the Commons for the fifth time," she says.

"It was going to be a significant moment, but it has been kicked into next week."

Watch Beth's full analysis here:

Another vote in the Lords, another defeat for the government.

Peers have voted in favour of a second amendment tonight to the government's Rwanda scheme.

This one would mandate that those who worked with the UK military or government overseas, such as Afghan interpreters, be exempted from removal to Rwanda.

The result is:

• 247 in favour;
• 195 against.

That means it passes with a majority of 52 votes.