'Hypocrite' Rishi Sunak Called Out Over Warning To 'Unelected' House Of Lords Over Rwanda Bill

Prime minister's Boris Johnson-like plea not defy "the will of the people" faces a backlash.
Open Image Modal
Rishi Sunak hosts a press conference at Downing Street the morning after he saw off a Tory rebellion to win the Commons’ backing for his flagship Safety of Rwanda Bill.
STEFAN ROUSSEAU via Getty Images

Rishi Sunak has faced a backlash after urging the unelected House of Lords not to block his Rwanda plan.

In a press conference on Thursday, the prime minister pleaded with peers not to “frustrate the will of the people” as he said the UK should be “taking control of our borders”. Both phrase are an echo of Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy at the 2019 general election.

Sunak, speaking the morning after he saw off a Tory rebellion to win the Commons’ backing for his flagship Safety of Rwanda Bill, said passing the legislation was now “an urgent national priority”.

He said: “There is now only one question: will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected House or will they get on board and do the right thing? It is as simple as that.”

The draft legislation will now go to the Lords, where its opponents will try to amend it or kill it altogether.  

But Sunak was labelled a “hypocrite” for his comments since the prime minister has yet to face the electorate, having become leader of the Conservative Party leader following a ballot of party members, and then only after the failure of the Liz Truss premiership.

Labour MP Jess Phillips said: “The will of the people which Mr Sunak has never actually tested being as he is unelected at the PM. Perhaps he would like to test that will?”