Rwanda scheme: PM Rishi Sunak refuses to name date for first deportation flight
Rishi Sunak has refused to name a date for when the first flight will take asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The prime minister has given his full backing to the policy – first introduced by Boris Johnson – that would see those arriving in the UK via small boat crossings or other illegal means deported to the African country to have their asylum claims assessed.
But despite having pledged to get flights off the ground in the spring, Mr Sunak would not give reporters a firm date, instead saying: “We need to get the bill through parliament first… but I am confident that once the bill is passed, we will be able to get this scheme up and running.”
Politics latest: Good news for Labour in new poll
It comes as the number of people who arrived in the UK on small boats in the Channel rose above 5,000 by the end of March for the first time.
The previous record high figure for January to March was 4,548 in 2022, with 3,793 arrivals in the first quarter of last year.
The government’s Rwanda scheme has faced huge opposition from campaigners and rival parties, and was ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court last November.
As a result, the government altered the legislation to include a new treaty and to state in law that Rwanda is a safe country.
It has still faced fierce criticism though – especially in the House of Lords, which has applied multiple changes to the bill before sending it back to the Commons.
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Migrants arrive in UK as record set
MPs are expected to vote on those amendments when they return to parliament next week, but the law could be stuck in so-called parliamentary “ping pong” between the two chambers for some time if peers decide to stand their ground.
Now we have entered spring, reporters asked the prime minister for a date when the first flight would take off.
He said: “I just saw the president of Rwanda in Downing Street this week and they are absolutely committed to delivering on our partnership and I am confident that they have got all the preparation in place to do so.
“Look, I am committed to stopping the boats. We need to have a deterrent so that if people come here illegally they can’t stay, they will be removed. That’s why Rwanda is so important. That’s why I am determined to see it through.”
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But Mr Sunak added: “First of all we need to get it through parliament, where the Labour Party has been blocking it for a long time.
“Once it is up and running I am confident we will be able to operationalise the scheme [and] get people on flights because that’s how we set up a deterrent and ultimately end the unfairness of people jumping the queue, coming here illegally, putting pressure on local services and risking their own lives.
“None of that’s right, none of it’s fair and none of it’s compassionate either, to do nothing, and our plan is the right one.”
Politics
‘Shy’ Reform voters in Labour areas led to Farage’s party winning by-election, Harriet Harman says
“Shy” Reform voters in Labour areas led to Nigel Farage’s party winning the Runcorn by-election by just six votes, Labour peer Harriet Harman said.
The Runcorn and Helsby seat, created in 2024, went to Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin who defeated Labour candidate Karen Shore by six votes.
Reform overturned a 34.8% majority gained by former Labour MP Mike Amesbury last year before he stood down earlier this year after he punched a constituent on a night out.
It is the closest by-election result since records began in 1945.
Read more: Badenoch apologises to Tory councillors
Labour peer and former minister Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “If we’d have known it was so close, I, myself, would have gone on extra time there and got those six votes.
“So, there’s a real level of frustration and I’m sure there’ll be a post-mortem, but I think there’s a lot of talk about shy Reform voters in Labour areas.”
In the local elections, running at the same time, the Conservatives lost control of all 18 councils it was contesting, with Reform taking eight of those.
The party also won two of the six mayoral contests – Reform’s first two mayors.
Harriet Harman on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast
Baroness Harman said Labour now has “got to get on with delivering on the health service” and pointed out the minimum wage increase and breakfast clubs are only just being rolled out.
But she said the government also needs “more of a story” instead of just telling people to “bear with us” while it fixes what the Conservatives did.
“It seems to be that Farage has got no delivery, as yet, and all the story, whereas the government is really getting on with delivery, but it hasn’t got a big enough story about what that fits,” she said.
Read more: Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
An installation represents a bus stop during Reform UK’s local elections campaign launch in Birmingham. Pic: Reuters
She added that “Blue Labour” MPs – a socially Conservative wing of the Labour Party – “will be emboldened to press for further action” on issues like immigration, which they want to see a tougher stance on.
“There’s been grumbling about the big salience of the concerns of the winter fuel payment, but I don’t see there being any change on that,” she said.
Baroness Harman said she does not think the by-election and local election results were “utterly predictable” and will not lead to any splits or instability within the party.
Kemi Badenoch has apologised to Tory councillors who lost their seats after Reform made massive gains at the Conservatives’ expense in Thursday’s local elections.
The Conservative leader said she knew it was “disappointing” and that she was “sincerely sorry”, but added: “We are going to win those seats back – that is my job now.”
The Tories lost overall control of all 18 councils they had been in charge of that were up for election. There were 23 councils in the race in total.
Politics latest: Sky News analysis shows Reform surge in estimated national vote
A particularly bad loss was Buckinghamshire, which has been under Tory control since 1973 when local government was reorganised. The Conservatives lost overall control by just one seat after losing 29 seats.
Reform, which has never run in local elections before, gained eight councils from the Tories, one that had no overall control previously and one from Labour – the only Labour council up for grabs in this election.
Nigel Farage with the new Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin. Pic: Reuters
The Lib Dems won Shropshire from the Tories, as well as Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire – both of which had no overall control before.
The Conservatives had one win, with Paul Bristow being voted in as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor, previously held by Labour.
Reform’s first major win of the election was the Runcorn and Helsby by-election where Labour lost to Reform by six votes. It was triggered by ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigning after his conviction for punching a constituent.
Sir Keir Starmer said he “gets” why his party suffered defeat there and the results show “we must deliver that change ever more quickly, we must go even further”.
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Tories suffer heavy defeats
Addressing the Conservatives’ abysmal results, Ms Badenoch said: “Other parties may be winning now, but we are going to show that we can deliver and that we are on course and recovering.
“But they [the public] are still not yet ready to trust us,” she added.
“We have a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public.
“That’s the job that the Conservative Party has given me, and I’m going to make sure that we get ourselves back to the place where we are seen as being a credible alternative to Labour.”
Read more:
Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
Reform wins two new mayoral contests
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Farage: ‘This is Reform-quake’
Ms Badenoch said Labour’s election results showed Sir Keir Starmer “is on course to be a one-term prime minister”.
However, when asked if she would still be leader at the next general election, Ms Badenoch dodged the question and said: “I’m not playing all these questions that the media loves to ask about my future.
“This is not about me.”
She insisted she was the right person to lead the Conservatives, as she was chosen by the party’s members.
“I told them it wouldn’t be easy, I told them it would require a renewal and rebuilding of our party,” she said.
“That doesn’t happen in six months. I’m trying to do something that no one has ever done before, which is take their party from such a historic defeat back into government in one term.”
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