Tag Archives: Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak Squirms As Cab Driver Tells Him To Deploy The Navy To ‘Stop The Boats’

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Rishi Sunak said it was “not practical” to deploy the navy to the English Channel to deter migrant crossings as he was confronted by an angry voter.

The prime minister was faced with a question about tackling illegal migration from cab driver Grant Davis as he appeared on The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots programme.

The Rwanda deportation plan, which is set to cost tens of millions of pounds, is key to Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” bringing unauthorised migrants to the UK.

Davis, who is part of The Sun’s “cabinet” as “transport secretary”, told Sunak to be more direct: “Why can’t you put the navy in the Channel so when the dinghies come over, you pull up, tow them back to Calais and say no thank you.

“If you want to send a message to the organised gangs bringing people over, that’s how you do it.”

Another member of The Sun’s “cabinet”, ex-Army captain Hugh Andree, said sending in the military would breach of France’s sovereignty.

Britain and Rwanda signed a deal almost two years ago that would see migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats sent to the East African country, where they would remain permanently. So far, no migrant has been sent to Rwanda under the agreement.

Elsewhere on the show, Sunak gave his strongest signal yet that he is willing to remove the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights amid the stalemate over the Rwanda policy.

The PM told The Sun that controlling immigration is more important than “membership of a foreign court”.

Critics have said the UK would be an international outlier along with Russia and Belarus if it left the convention, which is overseen by a court sitting in Strasbourg. The court’s president suggested in January the plan would breach international law.

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Sunak Tells Netanyahu He’s ‘Appalled’ By Killing Of Aid Workers In Gaza

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UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has told Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu that he is “appalled” by the killing of aid workers in an Israeli strike in a sign of a growing split between the two allies.

The leaders spoke after it was confirmed three UK citizens were among seven workers for the World Central Kitchen food charity killed in Gaza.

Downing Street said Sunak “demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation into what happened” and described the situation in Gaza as “increasingly intolerable”.

Britain is a staunch ally of Israeli, but Sunak has become increasingly critical of the conduct of the war. He is under pressure to suspend UK arms exports to Israel.

He told Netanyahu that “Israel’s rightful aim of defeating Hamas would not be achieved by allowing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

The UN says at least 180 humanitarian workers have been killed in the war so far.

James Henderson, 33, and John Chapman, 57, were named as two of the Brits who had died in the bombing. On Tuesday night, a third was named as James Kirby by the BBC.

People inspect the site where World Central Kitchen workers were killed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
People inspect the site where World Central Kitchen workers were killed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.

via Associated Press

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening.

“He said he was appalled by the killing of aid workers, including three British nationals, in an airstrike in Gaza yesterday and demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation into what happened.

“The prime minister said far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable.”

Netanyahu has acknowledged that the country’s forces had carried out the “unintended strike” on “innocent people in the Gaza Strip”. He says officials are “checking this thoroughly” and “will do everything for this not to happen again”.

Footage showed the bodies, several wearing protective gear with the charity’s logo, at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Those killed also included an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian, according to hospital records.

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Tories On Course To Win Fewer Than 100 Seats At The Election, According To New Mega-Poll

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The Tories are on course to win fewer than 100 seats at the next election, according to a new mega-poll.

The Survation survey for the Best for Britain campaign group says Labour is set to win a landslide 142-seat majority on a catastrophic night for Rishi Sunak.

The poll of 15,000 people puts Labour on 45% overall, with the Conservatives on 26%, the Lib Dems on 10% and Reform UK on 8.5%.

But a seat-by-seat analysis of the findings leaves Labour with 468 MPs, the Tories on 98, the SNP on 41 and the Lib Dems on 22.

Cabinet big-hitters Penny Mordaunt, James Cleverly and Grant Shapps are among the high-profile Conservatives who would lose their seats if the poll is correct.

Even Sunak himself, along with Claire Coutinho, Michelle Donelan, Oliver Dowden and Michael Gove, are at risk as the Tories face total meltdown.

The party would also be left with no MPs in Scotland or Wales, according to the poll.

Although the poll predicts Reform UK will not win any seats, the right-wing party is set to take support from the Tories in seats across the country.

Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said: “With the polling showing swathes of voters turning their backs on the Tories, it’s clear that this will be a change election.”

The findings will pile yet more pressure on the prime minister amid mounting speculation that he could be ousted by Tory MPs even before the election takes place.

Polling experts have predicted the party will lose 500 seats at the local elections on May 2, a result which could trigger a wave of no confidence letters being sent in to Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers.

It has been suggested that Sunak could call an election for June or July in an attempt to see off any challenges to his leadership.

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‘Demob-Happy’ Rishi Sunak Hands Knighthood To Tory Donor

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Rishi Sunak is facing a backlash for handing a knighthood to a Tory donor who gave £5 million to the Tories last year.

Mohamed Mansour, a senior treasurer of the Conservative Party and a former Egyptian government minister, was knighted for business, charity and political service.

PA News reported senior No 10 sources pointing to his charitable work and record of public service, including support for The Prince’s Foundation, now The King’s Foundation.

But Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds hit out at the prime minister for the decision, which was announced as parliament is in recess and on the eve of the Easter bank holiday weekend.

She said: “This is either the arrogant act of an entitled man who’s stopped caring what the public thinks, or the demob-happy self-indulgence of someone who doesn’t expect to be prime minister much longer.

“Either way, it shows a blatant disrespect for the office he should feel privileged to hold.”

Tory MP Philip Davies and Mark Spencer, the farming minister, were also knighted, while Tracey Crouch, a former minister, was made a dame along with Treasury committee chair Harriett Baldwin.

People from the worlds of entertainment and AI were also recommended for honours by the PM to the King.

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Rishi Sunak Corrected By Community Notes On X 25 Times, Report Finds

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Rishi Sunak has been publicly corrected on 25 different occasions for his misleading posts on social media, according to a new report.

The research, conducted by pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain and first reported by The Independent, also found that the Conservative Party is almost five times more likely to be corrected than Labour.

Best for Britain came to that conclusion by comparing the number of community notes added to posts on X (formerly Twitter) from the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the official Conservative account to their opposition counterparts.

What are community notes?

Community notes are a feature in the social media platform which were added in January 2023 to allow other X users to add context or clarifications to posts.

Users who sign up to be “contributors” can add notes to posts offering different points of view. If enough of these notes are rated as helpful by fellow contributors, it will appear below the post in question as a community note.

According to X, “community notes aim to create a better informed world by empowering people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts”.

How many times have the Tories and Labour been corrected in this way?

Best for Britain found 73 community notes attached to government accounts in total, compared to 15 from official opposition accounts.

Twenty-six of those posts were attached to the Conservative Party’s official account, and 25 were from the PM who vowed at the start of his premiership to lead with “integrity, professionalism and accountability”.

In the first week of January, Sunak was rebuked three times for posting misleading claims about clearing the asylum backlog, suggesting tax was cut, and claiming responsibility for halving inflation.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer has accrued four community notes in the same period while the Labour account has seven.

David Lammy was the only shadow minister to receive more community notes than his counterpart, David Cameron – Lammy has two, while the foreign secretary has none.

The group’s CEO Naomi Smith said the findings “shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially in an election year where lack of trust can feed dangerous populism”.

“A government that the public can’t trust to act with integrity and transparency – both essential for liberal democracy – is a government that shouldn’t be in power,” Smith continued. “We need a general election and our polling shows that the public want it now.”

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Andrea Leadsom Suggests Cost Of Living Crisis Is Over As Inflation Fall Has ‘Cheered Everyone Up’

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Andrea Leadsom has suggested the cost of living crisis has “ended” after a fall in the rate of inflation “obviously cheered everyone up”.

On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics revealed UK inflation has fallen from 4% in January to 3.4% last month, the lowest it’s been since 2021.

While the news is significant given that the measure of the growing cost of goods and services peaked at 11.1% in October 2022, a 41-year high, a decline only means prices are going up at a slower rate, they are not falling.

What’s more, the 3.4% figure is still short of the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

Nonetheless, Conservative minister Leadsom was keen to promote the downward trajectory against the backdrop of Tory unrest.

When asked on Sky News about whether the party was now united, Leadsom said instead: “I think what’s really important is we have seen a fantastic drop in inflation today. That’s what’s really important.

“That has obviously cheered everyone up, it’s what we have been working towards is seeing the cost of living crisis end … seeing people able to take more home in their pay packets or in their salaries every day. That’s the critical point.”

When Rishi Sunak became prime minister, he promised to halve inflation by the end of 2023 – and it ended up being the only one of his five pledges he managed to fulfil.

However, economists question whether government’s can sincerely take credit for getting inflation back under control, not least since central banks control the base interest rate that is the key tool to combat price growth, and ministers blamed global factors when inflation spiralled to record highs.

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Rwanda Bill Frustration As House Of Lords Inflicts Seven Defeats On Rishi Sunak

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The government is facing more frustration over its controversial plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda after the House of Lords inflicted more damage on its flagship legislation.

In the latest set of parliamentary “ping-pong”, peers on Wednesday inserted seven amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill in an effort to water down the policy.

It comes after MPs earlier this week removed 10 changes to the bill previously made by the Lords, undermining Rishi Sunak’s hopes to get deportation flights off the ground in the spring.

The defeats mean the legislation is now not likely to pass until after Easter.

The bill, which aims to overcome the Supreme Court’s block on the Rwanda flights, is almost certain to eventually prevail because the unelected Lords can’t overrule elected MPs. But it’s unclear how long the game of “ping-pong” will continue.

Britain and Rwanda signed a deal almost two years ago that would see migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats sent to the East African country, where they would remain permanently. So far, no migrant has been sent to Rwanda under the agreement.

The plan is key to Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” bringing unauthorised migrants to the UK. He argues that deporting asylum seekers will deter people from making risky journeys and break the business model of people-smuggling gangs. Just under 30,000 people arrived in Britain in small boats in 2023.

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‘He Just Can’t Do Politics’: Tory Commentator Wants Sunak Out Before Election

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A leading Tory commentator has said Rishi Sunak should not lead the Conservative Party into the general election in the latest bodyblow to the prime minister.

Tim Montgomerie, founder of ConservativeHome, told the BBC’s Daily Politics show that the party was in “freefall” amid the Labour Party’s double-digit poll lead.

It comes amid speculation unsettled Tory MPs are lining up Penny Mordaunt as a replacement for Sunak if he faced a no confidence vote before the general election. On Tuesday night, a Telegraph report suggested Tom Tugendhat is also being discussed as a “unity candidate” to replace the PM.

Montgomerie cited Robert Jenrick’s resignation as immigration minister, when he said Sunak wanted to enact a Rwanda policy “that would be enough to look like he was doing something but wouldn’t actually do something to actually solve the problem”.

“That, I’m afraid, is why I’ve reluctantly taken the decision … I think Rishi Sunak has to go as prime minister before the before the general election, because he just can’t do politics.

“I think he’s a good man, a family man, a decent man in public life for the right reasons.

“I study politics incredibly closely. I don’t really know what he wants to be prime minister for, what his ambition is, what legislation he wants to pass.”

He added: “If we have any chance at the next election of minimising the scale of defeat, we need to go into the election with an agenda for the future of this country. At the moment, I don’t even know what that is.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hinted the prime minister could go to the country in October, but Tory plotters may seek to oust him before then if the party’s fortunes do not improve.

Sunak will face prime minister’s Questions and then a behind-closed-doors appearance in front of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee on Wednesday.

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MPs Reverse Lords Amendments To Rwanda Deportation Bill

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MPs have reversed all 10 amendments to Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda legislation – setting up a showdown with the House of Lords over the controversial plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to the east African country.

Using its comfortable Commons majority, the Tory government unpicked changes made to the Safety of Rwanda Bill by the Lords.

Peers inserted a series of amendments designed to water down the legislation, but all 10 were removed by MPs during votes in the Commons on Monday night.

The bill, which aims to overcome the Supreme Court’s block on deportation flights, will return to the Lords on Wednesday as part of the game of parliamentary “ping-pong”.

The government is almost certain to prevail because the unelected Lords can’t overrule elected MPs, and the bill could be passed into law within days.

The prime minister hopes that the first deportation flights will take off in the spring.

Britain and Rwanda signed a deal almost two years ago that would see migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats sent to the East African country, where they would remain permanently. So far, no migrant has been sent to Rwanda under the agreement.

The plan is key to Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” bringing unauthorised migrants to the UK. He argues that deporting asylum seekers will deter people from making risky journeys and break the business model of people-smuggling gangs.

Just under 30,000 people arrived in Britain in small boats in 2023.

“We need to make it clear that if you come here illegally, you won’t be able to stay and we will be able to remove you. That is the only way to properly solve the issue of illegal migration,” Sunak told reporters on Monday.

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Rwanda Scheme Will End Up Costing Taxpayers Billions Of Pounds, Claims Think Tank

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The government’s Rwanda scheme will end up costing taxpayers billions of pounds, according to a leading think-tank.

A new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says the UK will have to pay up to £230,000 for every asylum seeker deported to the east African country.

That is around five times as much as it currently costs to house an asylum seeker in the UK.

In total, the IPPR estimates that the Rwanda policy will cost the government between £1.1 and £3.9 billion to deport the 20,000 asylum seekers who have entered the UK via so-called “irregular routes” since last year.

The findings come as MPs prepare to once again debate Rishi Sunak’s flagship Safety of Rwanda Bill.

The prime minister hopes that the first deportation flights will take off in the spring – although transport secretary Mark Harper yesterday refused to guarantee that any deportations will happen before the election.

Marley Morris, the IPPR’s associate director for migration, trade and communities, said: “Aside from the ethical, legal and practical objections, the Rwanda scheme is exceptionally poor value for money.

“For it to break even, it will need to show a strong deterrent effect, for which there is no compelling evidence.

“Under the government’s plans, billions could be sent to Rwanda to remove people who have already arrived irregularly since the Illegal Migration Act was passed.

The only winner from this scheme appears to be the Rwandan government itself, which has already secured hundreds of millions without doing much at all.”

As part of the Rwanda deal agreed by home secretary James Cleverly in December, the UK has to pay £370m up front to the Rwandan government, followed by a further £120m once 300 people are sent there.

The UK also has to pay £20,000 for each person deported, plus up to £150,874 per asylum seeker to cover the costs of asylum processing and integration.

For each person who leaves Rwanda, the UK is also expected to pay an extra £10,000 to facilitate their departure.

According to the IPPR, the total cost of sending one asylum seeker to Rwanda could be as much as £228,000.

But a Home Office spokesperson said: “The report makes a number of assumptions and modelling calculations that we do not recognise.

“Without innovative solutions, the cost of housing asylum seekers could reach up to £11 billion per year by 2026.

“Illegal migration costs lives and perpetuates human trafficking, and it is therefore right that we fund solutions to break this unsustainable cycle.

“The best way of saving taxpayer money is by deterring people from coming here illegally in the first place, and our partnership with Rwanda intends to do just that.”

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