Suella Braverman challenges Sunak to cut ‘unsustainable’ net migration

[dutchman]

No Rwanda flights before election, says Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak has said that no asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda before the election under the government's deportation scheme.

It had been thought ministers would try to get the first flight off before polling day, to showcase their flagship policy on countering illegal migration.

But the PM has now said they will go "if I'm re-elected" on 4 July.

Labour has pledged to scrap the plan if it wins power, raising questions over whether anyone will ever be sent.

The scheme, which has already cost £240m, will be a key dividing line between the two main parties over the six-week election campaign.

Labour said Mr Sunak's comments showed the Rwanda scheme was a "con from start to finish".

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper added: "He doesn't believe this plan will work, and that's why he called the election now in the desperate hope that he won't be found out."

The programme, which has been delayed by legal challenges, was announced over two years ago by then-prime minister Boris Johnson.

But Mr Sunak has made delivering it a key priority of his premiership, arguing it will deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

In a sign he now wants to make delivering the plan a key offer to voters, he said flights will go "in July" and "that's the choice at this election".

Asked on BBC Radio 4 whether this meant after the election, he replied "Yes," before adding "the choice here is clear".

"If you think stopping the boats is important, and you think like I do that you need a deterrent to do that [...] then I'm the only one that's going to deliver that," he added.

The Liberal Democrats called the comments an "utter humiliation and admission of defeat" from the prime minister.

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Sunak now owes Piers Morgan £1,000 after the latter bet him live on TV that "not one person would be deported to Rwanda before the next election".

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Pocket money to Sunak!

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No10 refuses to honour Sunak’s £1,000 Rwanda flights bet with Piers Morgan



Downing Street has refused to honour Rishi Sunak’s £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan over Rwanda flights, pointing out that one asylum seeker has gone there voluntarily.

The Prime Minister shook hands on the wager during a television interview with the journalist. Morgan asked him: “I bet you £1,000 to a refugee charity that you won’t get anybody on those planes before the election.”

But on Thursday, Mr Sunak admitted that no asylum seekers would be sent to Rwanda before the election under the Government’s deportation scheme.

It had been thought ministers would try to get the first flight away before polling day – but on Thursday he said they would go “if I’m re-elected” on July 4.

It prompted Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, to tweet: “Dear Prime Minister, following your admission today that no flights will take off to Rwanda before the election, please send £1,000 to British Red Cross. Kind regards, Piers.”

But No 10 pointed out that one person had actually been flown to Rwanda, under a voluntary scheme.

The bet was made during a Talk TV interview with Mr Morgan in February.

Mr Sunak appeared to accept the bet by shaking hands with the broadcaster, telling him: “I want to get the people on the planes. I am working incredibly hard to get people on the planes.”

Mr Morgan replied: “I do not think it’s going to work for you. That’s my grim prediction.”

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It just proves what a lying, worthless skunk Sunak really is!

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Not an ounce of honour in him (or most of the other 650 MPs!)

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Net migration hit record 906,000 last year



Net migration into the UK hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023, much higher than previously thought, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) originally estimated it was 740,000 but has now revised this figure upwards by 166,000.

It said annual net migration - the difference between those entering and leaving the country - has since fallen to 728,000 in the year to June 2024.

Sir Keir Starmer seized on the figures - which cover a period before Labour took office - to accuse the Tories of “running an open borders experiment”.

He called the increase in net migration in recent years "off the scale".

The PM promised that proposals for new laws to bring immigration down would be published "imminently".

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister said the "shocking" statistics showed the previous government had increased levels of migration “by design, not accident”.

He promised changes to the rules on work visas and skills training to reduce the dependence on foreign workers in some parts of economy.

But he declined to set a target for reducing overall net migration, adding that aiming for "arbitrary" figures had "achieved absolutely nothing" in the past.

Immigration has risen sharply under the points-based system for work visas put in place by the Conservatives after Brexit.

Boris Johnson's government also allowed students to stay in the UK for longer after graduation find a job, and expanded the visa route for workers in the healthcare sector.

Dr Ben Brindle, a researcher for the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: "We are yet to see the full impact of the visa restrictions in the data, although this initial data from the summer suggest that migration levels will not necessarily fall below pre-Brexit levels once the policy changes have bedded in."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called the latest figures "horrendous" and he had had "enough of being lied to" by the Conservatives. The numbers would be "even worse" under Labour, he added.

The ONS now says 82,000 more people came to live in the UK than they previously thought and 84,000 fewer people left the country.

The ONS said the numbers were still "official statistics in development", meaning that they may be revised in the future as more data becomes available.

Separate figures from the Home Office show more than 130,000 people were awaiting an initial decision for their asylum case as of September. The number of those claiming asylum has more than doubled since September 2021.