Illegal migrants will be deported to Rwanda, Rishi Sunak insists
Rishi Sunak has insisted that illegal migrants will be deported to Rwanda.
The Prime Minister stressed his desire to “break the cycle” of people smuggling that has seen record numbers of small boats crossing the English Channel.
Mr Sunak said the proportion of people arriving by such means who are Albanians was “ridiculous” as he touted a new deal to bring down the numbers.
The remarks came as Mr Sunak spoke Piers Morgan on TalkTV in an interview to mark his hundredth day in Number 10, having taken over from Liz Truss in October.
The policy of deporting migrants who arrive in the UK illegally to Rwanda was announced by Boris Johnson but has been tied up in the courts after legal challenges.
Asked if the Rwanda policy would ever take effect, Mr Sunak said “yes”.
The policy has been fiercely criticised by human rights organisations and opposition parties, but Mr Sunak promised to keep the drive in place when he ran for the Tory leadership last summer.
‘Brand new deal with Albania’
Elsewhere in the interview Mr Sunak said: “The system that we need, the system that I want to introduce, is one whereby if you come here illegally, you should be swiftly detained and then in a matter of days or weeks we will hear your claim, not months and years, and then we will safely remove you somewhere else. And if we do that, that’s how we’ll break the cycle.”
Discussing how to enforce the new plan, Mr Sunak said: “So, look, in the first 100 days what have we done, what have I done? A, I’ve got a new deal with France, which is increasing the amount of patrols that are happening on French beaches, which is making a difference already. Secondly, I’ve got a brand new deal with Albania. Albania accounted for 30 per cent of all illegal migrants.”
He added of the amount of Albanians arriving in the UK on small boats: “Of course that’s ridiculous. But I’ll work with the Albanians to put in place a new deal which means for people coming from Albania illegally, we’ll be able to remove them safely back to Albania and that is already happening. We’re putting illegal migrants from Albania back on flights and that will ratchet up over the year. And that’s tangible improvement in the situation. That deal is a new deal.”
Mr Sunak has named reducing the number of small boats crossing the Channel carrying migrants one of the five priorities for his premiership.
