Rishi Sunak wants to finish what Boris Johnson started – but do voters believe him?
Could flights to Rwanda bring about the change in fortunes this frustrated prime minister so desperately needs?
The polls remain stubbornly unmoving, suggesting nothing Rishi Sunak has done so far has captured the public’s imagination, while the Labour Party, which has promised to junk the Rwanda policy altogether, appears to be on track for a significant win at the general election.
But something the prime minister said during today’s press conference could give a hint at the kind of election he wants to fight.
In response to the series of questions posed to him by journalists in the room, Mr Sunak said: “We’ve got to finish the job.”
Politics latest: Rwanda flights starting ‘come what may’
A phrase that we may hear more and more as the election campaign ramps up.
The Rwanda bill – a policy first proposed by Boris Johnson – is in fact more popular than the Labour Party might like to admit.
In a YouGov survey from June last year, those polled were 42% in favour of it compared with 39% against.
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PM adamant Rwanda flights will happen
However, there lies one big elephant in the room: the Conservatives are no longer the most trusted party on immigration.
If we look at recent YouGov polling, 21% of people think Labour would handle asylum and immigration best, whereas just 14% believe the same of the Conservatives.
Admittedly this is not exactly a ringing endorsement of the public’s faith in either party, but it is especially challenging for Mr Sunak.
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‘Success when boats have been stopped’
Clearly, although a significant section of the UK’s population may agree with the Conservatives on the premise of the policy, they do not trust them to deliver on their promises.
And it is that loss of trust that may mean today’s press conference has little effect on the public’s views of the prime minister, his party and the policy as a whole.
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Insisting that 200 case workers, 150 judges and 25 court rooms are available to wade through the expected tidal wave of legal challenges may sound impressive to some, but are the disenchanted voters who once voted for a Tory Party promising to crack down on migration still listening?
Today the prime minister told the nation: “Labour’s priority is stopping the planes, not stopping the boats” – this attack line might be catchy, but if flights of asylum seekers take off to Rwanda in July and August (something the prime minister insists will be the case) and the polls remain much the same, Mr Sunak has a much broader problem than immigration.
Millionaire Tory donor Malcolm Offord has defected to Reform UK, saying he would be campaigning “tirelessly” to “remove this rotten SNP government”.
Nigel Farage announced the former Conservative life peer’s defection during a rally in the Scottish town of Falkirk, where regular anti-immigration protests have taken place outside the Cladhan Hotel – which is being used to house asylum seekers.
Mr Farage, Reform UK’s leader, said he was “delighted” to welcome Greenock-born Lord Offord to Reform, describing his defection as “a brave and historic act”.
He added: “He will take Reform UK Scotland to a new level.”
During a speech, Lord Offord, who previously donated nearly £150,000 to the Tories, said he would be quitting the Conservative Party and giving up his place in the House of Lords as he prepares to campaign for a seat in Holyrood in May.
The 61-year-old said he wanted to restore Scotland to a “prosperous, happy, healthy country”.
“Scotland needs Reform and Reform is coming to Scotland,” he told the rally.
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Nigel Farage dismisses school racism claims as ‘banter in a playground’
Farage allegations are deeply shocking – but will they deter voters?
“Today I can announce that I am resigning from the Conservative Party. Today I am joining Reform UK and today I announce my intention to stand for Reform in the Holyrood election in May next year.
“And that means that from today, for the next five months, day and night, I shall be campaigning with all of you tirelessly for two objectives.
“The first objective is to remove this rotten SNP government after 18 years, and the second is to present a positive vision for Scotland inside the UK, to restore Scotland to being a prosperous, proud, healthy and happy country.”
The latest defection comes as Mr Farage finds himself at the centre of allegations of racism dating back to his time in school.
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Claims made against Nigel Farage
Sky News reported on Saturday that a former schoolfriend of Mr Farage claimed he sang antisemitic songs to Jewish schoolmates – and had a “big issue with anyone called Patel”.
Jean-Pierre Lihou, 61, was initially friends with the Reform UK leader when he arrived at Dulwich College in the 1970s, at the time when Mr Farage is accused of saying antisemitic and other racist remarks by more than a dozen pupils.
Mr Farage has said he “never directly racially abused anybody” at Dulwich and said there is a “strong political element” to the allegations coming out 49 years later.
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has called the ex-classmates “liars”.
A Reform UK spokesman accused Sky News of “scraping the barrel” and being “desperate to stop us winning the next election”.
The European Commission’s proposal to expand the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is raising concerns about the centralization of the bloc’s licensing regime, despite signaling deeper institutional ambitions for its capital markets structure.
On Thursday, the Commission published a package proposing to “direct supervisory competences” for key pieces of market infrastructure, including crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), trading venues and central counterparties to ESMA, Cointelegraph reported.
Concerningly, the ESMA’s jurisdiction would extend to both the supervision and licensing of all European crypto and financial technology (fintech) firms, potentially leading to slower licensing regimes and hindering startup development, according to Faustine Fleuret, head of public affairs at decentralized lending protocol Morpho.
“I am even more concerned that the proposal makes ESMA responsible for both the authorisation and the supervision of CASPs, not only the supervision,” she told Cointelegraph.
The proposal still requires approval from the European Parliament and the Council, which are currently under negotiation.
If adopted, ESMA’s role in overseeing EU capital markets would more closely resemble the centralized framework of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a concept first proposed by European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde in 2023.
Related: Bank of America backs 1%–4% crypto allocation, opens door to Bitcoin ETFs
EU plan to centralize licensing under ESMA creates crypto and fintech slowdown concerns
The proposal to “centralize” this oversight under a single regulatory body seeks to address the differences in national supervisory practices and uneven licensing regimes, but risks slowing down overall crypto industry development, Elisenda Fabrega, general counsel at Brickken asset tokenization platform, told Cointelegraph.
“Without adequate resources, this mandate may become unmanageable, leading to delays or overly cautious assessments that could disproportionately affect smaller or innovative firms.”
“Ultimately, the effectiveness of this reform will depend less on its legal form and more on its institutional execution,” including ESMA’s operational capacity, independence and cooperation “channels” with member states, she said.
Related: Grayscale Chainlink ETF draws $41M on debut, but not ‘blockbuster’
The broader package aims to boost wealth creation for EU citizens by making the bloc’s capital markets more competitive with those of the US.
The US stock market is worth approximately $62 trillion, or 48% of the global equity market, while the EU stock market’s cumulative value sits around $11 trillion, representing 9% of the global share, according to data from Visual Capitalist.
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