Rishi Sunak has issued a warning to the House of Lords as the Government's Rwanda Bill is expected to be delayed once again.
This came after MPs voted down 10 amendments introduced by the Lords last night.
Peers in the House of Lords are expected to try and reintroduce around half of the amendments when it returns to the upper house on Wednesday, begining the process known as "ping pong".
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman suggested the House of Lords will be showing a lack of “compassion” if peers do not pass the Rwanda Bill.
Rishi Sunak has issued a warning to the House of Lords as the Government's Rwanda Bill is set to be delayed once again
PA
If the amendments are voted in again, MPs in the House of Commons would once again have to vote on the draft legislation.
Another vote is likely to have to wait until MPs return from their Easter break on April 15, which would delay flights to Rwanda by several weeks.
In order to avoid this, the Government would have to clear the Commons schedule to allow votes to take place next week.
If the amendments fail, the bill could become law by the end of this week.
The PM's spokesperson said: "Not acting, in the Government’s view, is not an option and it certainly wouldn’t be a compassionate route.
"We want to end the business of people smuggling and ensure that vulnerable people are not lured into making the perilous journey across the Channel, so there’s an opportunity for the Lords to work with the Government this week and pass this Bill."
Yesterday, Number 10 said the Government wants flights to take off "by the Spring".
It also confirmed that the Government has started to identify illegally arrived migrants who will be on the first flights to Kigali.
Among those amendments rejected yesterday include allowing courts to question Rwanda's safety and offering protections for asylum seekers claiming to be unaccompanied children.
Others included preventing the government from declaring Rwanda a safe country until a series of safeguards are implemented and exempting those who have worked with the British armed forces abroad from being deported to the African country.
Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats voted to keep the 10 amendments.
Yesterday, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper hit out at the Conservative Party for what she dubbed migration "gimmicks", vowing to overturn the Rwanda scheme even if flights begin taking off.
The Shadow Home Secretary told GB News that a Labour Government would end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in a move she said would save the taxpayer "billions of pounds".
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This came after the Labour Party unveiled a new plan to tackle migration, which would involve the creation of a 1,000-strong Returns and Enforcement Unit.
Cooper said a Labour Government would scrap the Rwanda scheme and instead put money into "strengthening our border security".
