All Tory leadership candidates so far BACK Rwanda deportations

2022-07-11

All Tory leadership candidates so far BACK Rwanda deportations, as polling shows three out of four Conservative voters back plan to fly illegal Channel migrants to East African country

Three in four Conservative voters support the policy, with 10 per cent opposed
Rishi Sunak confirmed last night he would continue with the deportations
Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt pledged to expand the programme to other nations

All the candidates to be next Conservative leader have pledged to keep the Rwanda policy as they try to appeal to party members.

Polling shows three in four voters who backed the Conservatives in the last election support the policy, while just 10 per cent oppose it.

Rishi Sunak confirmed last night he would continue with the deportations after rivals pointed out he had not revealed his view since launching his leadership campaign on Friday.

The first deportation flight – due to take off in June – was grounded amid legal challenges

A spokesman for the former Chancellor told the Times: ‘Rishi signed off and funded the Asylum Partnership Agreement with Rwanda, and now he just wants to make sure that it works.

‘Rishi is proud to be from a family of immigrants but believes that the UK must have control of its borders.’

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt – seen as a centrist candidate – has even pledged to expand the programme to other nations.

‘I hope we could find some other countries as well as Rwanda,’ Mr Hunt told the Sunday Telegraph.

He also told Sky News: ‘I do but we’ve got to make it work and I’m not convinced it is working at the moment.

‘But we have to be honest that migration has become massively more mobile over recent years in a globalised world and therefore if we want to become a humane country that offers a safe haven for people who genuinely need asylum, then we need to find legal safe routes for people to come here and not a mad dash for people to put their lives in the hands of people smugglers and try and get across the Channel.’

On Friday, Downing Street confirmed the Home Office agreement with Rwanda remained despite Boris Johnson’s resignation and suggested the first deportation flight could be made before a legal challenge against the policy is heard on July 19.

Rishi Sunak confirmed last night he would continue with the deportations after rivals pointed out he had not revealed his view since launching his leadership campaign on Friday

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘This is a pre-agreed Government policy.

‘Convention doesn’t prevent or preclude government from seeking to fulfil that policy and that would include defending cases in court as required.’

In April Home Secretary Priti Patel signed what she branded a ‘world-first’ agreement to send migrants deemed to have arrived in the UK illegally to Rwanda.

The first deportation flight – due to take off in June – was grounded amid legal challenges.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, from Amnesty International UK, has urged the Government to rethink the ‘disastrous plan’, claiming it was ‘irresponsible and callous’, adding: ‘The UK Government is so far removed from reality and lacking in humanity that they are not only destroying the asylum system but also people’s lives.’

It came as three small boats carrying a total of 146 people were intercepted crossing the Channel to the UK over the weekend.

Women and children have been among recent arrivals making the dangerous journey.

The crossings confirmed by the Ministry of Defence on Saturday bring the total so far this year to 13,270, which compares to 6,659 by this point in 2021 and 2,459 in 2020.

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