Sunak and Austrian leader agree ‘Rwanda style model’ needed to tackle illegal migration in Europe
Rishi Sunak said he and Austria’s leader are “deepening co-operation” on illegal migration as they agreed schemes like the Rwanda plan are needed to tackle the issue in Europe.
The prime minister met Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna on Tuesday, following an announcement that the UK government will give an extra £25m to the National Crime Agency to help tackle people smuggling gangs.
However, the main thrust of the trip was to promote the use of third country deportation schemes – such as the government’s Rwanda plan.
Following a “warm meeting” with Mr Nehammer, Mr Sunak said the pair “see eye-to-eye on many of the big challenges before us”, including Ukraine and the Middle East.
He said they discussed illegal migration, which “has become truly one of the defining issues of our time”.
The prime minister congratulated his Austrian counterpart on his leadership on illegal migration “because he’s been right on this issue for a long time, and has led the charge in Europe”.
They committed to “deepening our cooperation to end this vile trade” and said there is a need to “think creatively… like the UK’s pioneering Rwanda scheme”.
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Record number of boats arrive in UK
The pair met after 15 EU countries, including Austria, signed a letter calling on the European Commission to tighten migration policy and to look at third country schemes.
“It’s increasingly clear that many other countries now agree that that is the approach that is required – bold, novel, looking at safe country partnerships,” Mr Sunak said.
Mr Nehammer said having safe asylum proceedings in safe third countries could “save human lives” by eradicating smuggling routes, and it is “something we need to put on the EU’s agenda as well”.
The number of people who have crossed the Channel in small boats to the UK this year has reached nearly 10,000.
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The government has now passed its legislation to deport asylum seekers to the African nation, but flights are not expected to start taking off until early July – and more legal challenges could also be launched.
Labour has branded the scheme an “expensive gimmick” and promised to scrap it if the party wins the next general election.
However, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the government was still “determined to operationalise Rwanda as part of the measures to protect our borders”.
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Pic: AP
Last year, the UK and Austria signed a “migration and security agreement” to work more closely on the issue, with the country keen to create its own third country scheme to address rising crossings in the Mediterranean.
However, unlike the UK’s Rwanda scheme, asylum seekers would be allowed to return to Austria if their applications were successful.
A top Downing Street aide has resigned after sending sexually explicit messages about independent MP Diane Abbott, Sky News understands.
Paul Ovenden, who was the director of strategy at Number 10, is understood to have left the role on Monday after a number of instant messages from 2017 became public.
Sky News understands he did so to avoid becoming a “distraction” for Sir Keir Starmer, just days after he was forced to sack the UK’s ambassador to the US – Peter Mandelson – over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The messages, exchanged between Mr Ovenden and a female colleague, contained the graphic retelling of a conversation he reportedly overheard about Ms Abbott while at a party.
The former aide has alleged these were not his original words, but said he “deeply regrets” sharing them.
He said: “I really, deeply regret my sharing this story, and the hurt and embarrassment its publication will cause.
“Accordingly, I have brought forward my resignation to today as I do not want to be a distraction from the government’s work.”
Diane Abbott
It is understood Mr Ovenden announced to colleagues before the summer recess he was leaving his role, and had planned to leave “quietly and quickly” sometime this month.
However, in the wake of the publication of these messages, Mr Ovenden “brought forward” his resignation to today.
The messages, exchanged with a female colleague and seen by Sky News, described a game of “shag, marry, kill” the aide overheard while at a party in May 2017.
This involved explicit descriptions about suspended Labour MP Ms Abbott.
A Number 10 spokesperson said: “These messages are appalling and unacceptable.
“As the first black woman to be elected to parliament, Diane Abbott is a trailblazer who has faced horrendous abuse throughout her political career.
“These kinds of comments have no place in our politics.”
Sky News has contacted Ms Abbott for comment.
The latest Number 10 resignation comes as Sir Keir admitted he never would have appointed Lord Mandelson to the post of UK ambassador to the US if he had known what he knows now about the extent of his association with Epstein.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he sacked Mandelson last Thursday, the prime minister explained that a “due diligence process” was conducted before he was appointed to the post in February.
“I knew of his association with Epstein,” Sir Keir said.
“But had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”
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‘Had I known then, what I know now, I’d have never appointed him’ Starmer said.
Just days before Lord Mandelson was sacked, Angela Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary after admitting she did not pay enough tax on her second home.
She also quit as deputy leader of the Labour Party, an elected post.
Sir Keir’s second-in-command admitted to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that she should have paid the higher rate of stamp duty on a home she bought in Hove, East Sussex, as it was her second property.
UK crypto and payments groups urged the Bank of England to drop plans to cap individual stablecoin holdings, claiming the move would be costly and hard to enforce.
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