Rishi Sunak defends asylum plans as Tory MPs’ vent anger

Rishi Sunak has rejected calls to drop his plans to stop migrant crossings after the Supreme Court ruled his flagship asylum policy is unlawful.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer branded the Rwanda scheme a “gimmick” that had “blown up” and wasted taxpayers’ cash.

But Mr Sunak told MPs he would do “whatever it takes to stop the boats”, including changing UK laws.

He is facing unrest among Tory MPs who want him to push ahead with the plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said there was a risk of Rwanda returning genuine asylum seekers to countries they had fled from, upending a key part of Mr Sunak’s migration policy.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Sunak said he was working on a new treaty with Rwanda and would be “prepared to change our laws”.

In a sustained attack on the prime minister over the ruling, Sir Keir said the “central pillar of his government has crumbled beneath him”.

He asked the prime minister whether he would apologise over spending more than £140m on a policy that has been stalled by years of legal challenges.

Mr Sunak said Rwanda was “one part” of a plan that had delivered a reduction in the number of migrant crossings of the English Channel this year.

But Sir Keir said “Plan A has failed” and asked the prime minister when he would drop the Rwanda scheme and “start treating small boat crossings with the seriousness they deserve”.

In reply, Mr Sunak accused the Labour leader of opposing his efforts to stop small boat crossings. “He doesn’t want to stop the boats, he wants to welcome more of them,” Mr Sunak said.

When he first took office last year, Mr Sunak said “stopping the boats” would be one of five key priorities for his government ahead of the next general election.

More than 45,700 people crossed the Channel to come to the UK in 2022, the highest figure since records began.

As of this month, the number of small boat crossings in 2023 was a third lower than at the same point the year before.

The Supreme Court’s ruling represents a serious setback for Mr Sunak’s asylum policy, and has infuriated Tory MPs who have been critical of his leadership.

The ruling came the day after the sacked Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, released an incendiary letter accusing the prime minister of breaking promises over immigration.

Mrs Braverman said Mr Sunak had no “credible Plan B” if the Supreme Court rejected the government’s appeal.

Now Mr Sunak is facing calls from Mrs Braverman’s allies on the Tory right to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), an international treaty.

But the Supreme Court made it clear in its judgment that domestic law, as well as international treaties, were relevant to the court’s decision.

Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson said the government should “ignore the laws” and send migrants back the same day they arrive in the UK.

Former Levelling Up Secretary, Sir Simon Clarke, has called for emergency legislation within “days certainly not more than weeks” to push forward with the Rwanda scheme.

And Sir John Hayes, a close ally of Mrs Braverman, told the BBC’s World at One that she spoke for the “vast majority of law-abiding Britons” in saying “it’s just not right” that the UK can’t get rid of people who’ve arrived in the UK illegally.

The BBC has been told about 25 Tory MPs attended a meeting of the New Conservatives following the Rwanda decision.

There was anger at the failure of the Rwanda plan among the right-wing grouping of Tory MPs, but sources suggested those who want Mr Sunak removed are limited.