Peers snub Asylum Bill and spark dash to rush it through

Peers defied the Government last night over its asylum Bill, provoking a last-minute scramble to force the legislation on to the statute books before the end of the parliamentary year today.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers united to defeat the Government over plans to build giant accommodation centres for asylum-seekers in rural areas.

The defeat forces the Bill back to the House of Commons for a third time, today, with just one day's business before the legislation is killed at the end of the Parliamentary session.

The Home Office vowed to overturn the changes. MPs will debate the Bill this afternoon, leaving hours for peers to approve the legislation before the end of term guillotine.

Peers passed an amendment by 171 votes to 121 requiring David Blunkett to take account of the needs of asylum-seekers when choosing sites for the centres, despite warnings it would open the proposals up to challenge in the courts.

Peers attacked proposals for 750-place accommodation centres, despite a series of concessions. On Tuesday, the Home Office dropped plans for a giant centre in Worcestershire but insisted it would press ahead with two more planned centres in Oxfordshire and Nottinghamshire.

Yesterday, Lord Filkin, for the Government, insisted one of the proposed centres would house 400 people in an urban area. He said further centres could be based on a series of smaller hostels, as proposed by the Refugee Council – and floated the idea of centres set up specifically to deal with families.

But Baroness Anelay of St James, for the Conservatives, said any hopes that ministers would back down had been dashed, and she was forced to put down an amendment forcing ministers to take account of the needs of asylum-seekers when planning accommodation centres.