Rishi Sunak stressed his commitment to the Rwandan scheme during the Cop28 summit in Dubai. Photo: PA/Stefan Rousseau
Rishi Sunak has admitted that the British public's patience is now “exhausted” due to delays in his Rwanda policy.
Mr Sunak's plan to deport illegal migrants to the African country was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court last month after the Court of Appeal also blocked it earlier this year.
The Prime Minister promised to introduce “emergency legislation” on November 15 to declare Rwanda a safe country, but frustration was growing among Conservative MPs and MPs at the lack of any proposals to date.
p>Responding Asked about the future of the policy while attending the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, Mr Sunak confirmed he would press ahead with the scheme despite concerns it may not be worth the cost.
“ We are finalizing [details] ] at the moment. And it’s important that we get this right, because this is a very important issue,” he told reporters.
“But the goal is clear to me: the goal is to make sure that Parliament can say unequivocally that, on the basis of everything we have done, Rwanda is a safe place to implement our scheme.
“Once we do that and Parliament confirms this, we will no longer have internal obstacles to the implementation of this program, which we have been working on for a long time.
“But I have also been clear that I will not allow a foreign court to block our flights from taking off . My patience is running out, the patience of the British people is running out.”
Sunak points to success of Albania deal
Polls show the public no longer trust the Conservatives on immigration, according to a poll by Redfield & Last week, Wilton Strategies showed the government's net approval rating on the issue was minus 33.
Net migration reached a record high of 745,000 in the year to December last year, according to revised data from the Office for National Statistics. , with net migration to the UK tentatively at 607,000 in the year to June 2023.
Mr Sunak on Friday pointed to the success of the return deal with Albania, which has seen more Albanians crossing the border. The channel fell 90 percent because it insisted that the Rwandan program would have the desired effect.
He said: “We have seen that deterrents work, we have seen it in Albania. Because now we are bringing people back to Albania as a result of the new agreement that we have. As part of the diplomacy and governance that we've been doing over the last year.
“What this suggests is that deterrents are working, so if you have a functioning deterrent system, people will stop coming. And now we need to replicate this on a larger scale, which is why Rwanda is critical. And if we can get this right, it will literally save us billions in the long run, so this is the right focus.”
The ECHR Framework
James Cleverley, the Home Secretary, faced a backlash. over the weekend after he said people shouldn't “get hung up” on Rwanda's plan, arguing it is not the “be all and end all” in the fight against illegal immigration.
Some on the right are calling on Mr. his party's Sunak to introduce legislation that would direct British courts to ignore rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in specific cases to ensure the successful deportation of illegal migrants.
But he was asked how far he would go. Ready to go to the ECHR, from which some Conservative MPs want the UK to leave altogether, Mr Sunak said his upcoming emergency legislation would not apply outside its framework.
“My position on this issue was completely consistent. I am fully confident that everything we do is consistent with our international obligations. I have gone through this in great detail and am confident in this fact.”
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