Ministers are plotting to force Rishi Sunak’s “stop the boats” bill into law if it is blocked or watered down by the House of Lords this summer.
The options being discussed among officials, ministers and Conservative MPs include using the Parliament Act, an instrument used only seven times in history that allows the Commons to overrule the Lords, to force the illegal migration bill on to the statute book.
Another idea is to appoint new Conservative peers to bolster the party’s numbers in the upper chamber, with one government source proposing to speed up the appointment of the 50 people nominated in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
Another source said they should instead soften the more controversial elements of the bill to get the
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