UK members of Parliament overturned 18 amendments made by the House of Lords to the Illegal Migration Bill in a vote Tuesday. The four hour House of Commons sessions saw the rejection of the Lord’s amendment requiring the bill to follow international conventions, as well as an amendment dis-applying the new legislation from modern slavery victims, despite critique from members of Parliament and human rights organizations.

The bill, introduced in March by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, intends to “make provision for…the removal from the United Kingdom of persons who have entered or arrived in breach of immigration control.” It has undergone three readings in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons between March 7 and July 10. The Lords most recent amendments were then considered and voted on in the House of Commons yesterday, which resulted in a significant number of which being rejected.

Notably, amendment six, introduced by the Lords to prevent the bill from acting retroactively was rejected by a majority of 76 votes. Following this, in a vote of 303 to 228, amendment one, which stopped the bill from giving ministers the power to break international conventions, was rejected by a majority of 75. Other rejected amendments included the following: amendment nine, allowing an asylum claim to be considered if the person had not been removed from the UK within six months; amendment 23, which prevented the government from deporting those in the LGBTQ+ community to a number of named countries; and amendment 56, which stopped the bill from applying to victims of modern slavery. Former Prime Minister Theresa May expressed particular concern over the rejection of amendment 56, commenting, “This bill ties the hands of the police and it undoes the good work of the Modern Slavery Act,” a law in the UK protecting victims of modern slavery.

The bill has caused significant backlash from organizations such as the UK Bar Council, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), and the UNHCR, for its risk of breaching international law, and its alleged lack of respect for human rights. However, following the recent votes, the bill is able to progress to the next stages of consideration.

A committee will be created to report on the reasons why the House of Commons rejected the amendments and, as of July 12, the House of Commons’ amendments have now been passed back to the House of Lords for their consideration.