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Robert Jenrick has vowed the government will do “whatever it takes” to implement its Rwanda deportation plan – following Suella Braverman’s sacking as home secretary.

The immigration minister – who kept his job in Monday’s dramatic reshuffle – said the government’s plan “must” go through, “no ifs, no buts”.

However, the policy faces a make-or-break decision on Wednesday when the Supreme Court will rule on whether the plans are lawful.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph during a visit to Bulgaria, just hours after Ms Braverman’s sacking, he said: “Be assured that as a prudent government, we have been thinking through what further steps we could take.

“I worked closely with the former home secretary on various options. But at the heart of this is the deep conviction that you have to inject deterrence into the system.

“We must ensure the Rwanda policy succeeds before the next general election. No ifs, no buts, we will do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.”

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Mr Jenrick did, however, concede that the government would struggle to achieve its goal of stopping small boat crossings in the English Channel if their plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda were deemed unlawful.

Asked whether the boats could be stopped without the Rwanda policy, Mr Jenrick replied: “No.”

The deal – signed by Ms Braverman’s predecessor Priti Patel, but later championed by the now former home secretary – would see some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda to claim asylum there.

Suella Braverman laughs during her visit to Kigali, Rwanda
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Suella Braverman during a tour of a migrant housing facility in Rwanda in March

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Last month, the Home Office challenged a Court of Appeal ruling from June that the multimillion-pound deal was unlawful.

The Illegal Migration Act brought into law the government’s policy of sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda, but because of the legal wrangling, no deportation flights having taken place.

The first planned flight to Rwanda in June 2022 was grounded minutes before take-off following a ruling by a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

As a result, Mr Jenrick has not removed the possibility of the UK’s exit from the European Convention on Human Rights – a move which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has repeatedly refused to rule out.

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Revolut secures MiCA license in Cyprus to launch Europe-wide crypto services

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Revolut secures MiCA license in Cyprus to launch Europe-wide crypto services

Revolut secures MiCA license in Cyprus to launch Europe-wide crypto services

Revolut also revealed its Crypto 2.0 platform, which will feature over 280 tokens, zero-fee staking up to 22% APY and 1:1 stablecoin-to-US dollar conversion.

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EU sanctions Russian A7A5 stablecoin and crypto exchanges

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EU sanctions Russian A7A5 stablecoin and crypto exchanges

EU sanctions Russian A7A5 stablecoin and crypto exchanges

Russian oil companies have increasingly relied on digital assets and crypto platforms to circumvent financial sanctions, according to the European Commission.

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Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage are polar opposites in politics, but have one thing in common

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Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage are polar opposites in politics, but have one thing in common

Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage might be polar opposites when it comes to politics – but they do have one thing in common.

The pair are both cutting through in a changing media landscape when attention is scarce and trust in mainstream politics is scarcer still.

For Farage, the Reform UK leader, momentum has been building since he won a seat at the general election last year and he continues to top the polls.

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Badenoch doesn’t want to talk about Farage

But in the six weeks since Polanski became leader of the Greens, membership has doubled, they’ve polled higher than ever before while three Labour councillors have defected. Has the insurgent firebrand finally met his match?

“I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but I despise Nigel Farage’s politics and disagree with him on almost everything,” Polanski tells Sky News.

“But I think his storytelling has undoubtedly cut through and so yes there has been a huge part of us saying ‘If Farage can do that with a politics of hate and division, then it’s time for the Green Party to do that with a politics of hope and community’ and that’s absolutely what I intend to keep doing.”

Polanski was speaking after a news conference to announce the defections of the councillors in Swindon – a bellwether area that is currently led by a Labour council and has two Labour MPs, but was previously controlled by the Tories.

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It is the sort of story the party would previously have announced in a press release, but the self-described “eco populist” is determined to do things differently to grab attention.

He has done media interviews daily over the past few weeks, launched his own podcast and turbocharged the Greens social media content – producing slick viral videos such as his visit to Handsworth (the Birmingham neighbourhood where Robert Jenrick claimed he saw no white people).

Zack Polanski announces the defection of Labour councillors
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Zack Polanski announces the defection of Labour councillors

Polanski insists that it is not increased exposure in and of itself that is attracting people to his party but his messaging – he wants to “make hope normal again”.

“I’m not going to be in a wetsuit or be parachuting from a helicopter”, he says in a swipe at Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.

“I think you only need to do stunts if you don’t have something really clear to say and then you need to grab attention.

“I think when you look at the challenges facing this country right now if you talk about taxing wealth and not work, if you talk about the mass inequality in our society and you talk about your solidarity with people living in poverty, with working-class communities, I think these are the things that people both want to hear, but also they want to know our solutions. The good news is I’ve got loads of solutions and the party has loads of solutions. “

Some of those solutions have come under criticism – Reform UK have attacked his policy to legalise drugs and abolish private landlords.

Discontent is fuelling the rise of challenger parties. Pic: PA
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Discontent is fuelling the rise of challenger parties. Pic: PA

Polanski is confident he can win the fight. He says it helps that he talks “quite quickly because it means that I’m able to be bold but also have nuance”. And he is a London Assembly member not an MP, so he has time to be the party’s cheerleader rather than being bogged down with case work.

As for what’s next, the 42-year-old has alluded to conversations with Labour MPs about defections. He has not revealed who they are but today gave an idea of who he would welcome – naming Starmer critic Richard Burgon.

Like Burgon, Polanski believes Starmer “will be gone by May” and that the local elections for Labour “will be disastrous”.

He wants to replace Labour “right across England and Wales” when voters go to the polls, something Reform UK has also vowed to do.

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Is Zack Polanski squeezing the Labour vote?

Could the Greens be kingmakers?

Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, says this reflects a “new axis of competition” as frontline British politics shifts from a battle of left vs right to a battle of process vs anti-establishment.

Farage has been the beneficiary of this battle so far but Tryl says Polanski is “coming up in focus groups” in a way his predecessors didn’t. “He is cutting through”, the pollster says.

However, one big challenge Polanski faces is whether his rise will cause the left vote to fragment and make it easier for Farage to win – something he has said he wants to avoid at all costs.

And yet, asked if he would form a coalition with Labour to keep Farage out of power in the event of a hung parliament, he suggested he would only do so if Sir Keir Starmer is no longer prime minister.

“I have issues with Keir Starmer as prime minister,” he says. “I think he had the trust of the public, but I would say that’s been broken over and over again. If we had a different Labour prime minister that would be a different conversation about where their values are.

He adds: “I do think stopping Nigel Farage has to be a huge mission for any progressive in this country, but the biggest way we can stop Nigel Farage is by people joining the Green Party right now; creating a real alternative to this Labour government, where we say we don’t have to compromise on our values.

“If people wanted to vote for Nigel Farage, they’d vote for Nigel Farage. What does Keir Starmer think he’s doing by offering politics that are similar but watered down? That’s not going to appeal to anyone, and I think that’s why they’re sinking in the polls.”

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