Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Conservative party insiders say Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a general election in the summer shows he does not believe the recent attempt to deport migrants on a flight to Rwanda would be successful.
They also cast doubt on his assurances that flights would return to service in July if the Conservatives were re-elected, claiming work on the policy now stops.
Home Office insiders also have doubts that the plan can work, given legal issues and the department’s history of missing some asylum seekers.
Ministers wanted to make the flight, which aims to reduce the number of small boats crossing the English Channel, a key part of their general election campaign.
But this morning, Mr Sunak confirmed in an interview with LBC radio that the first flight would be after the 4th of July.
“I said the first flights would start in July, but if I am elected, the flights will start after the election,” he said.
Conservatives close to Plan Rwanda said voting before the deportations began showed he had lost confidence that the new Rwanda Security Act was enough to move forward with his policy. .
“He’s going to face serious questions about whether he believed in his bill,” one source said.
They added that flight preparations were now likely to come to a complete halt.
“It’s impossible for a public servant to do something like that,” they said. “James [Cleverly, Home Secretary] “We’re going to campaign in Essex, but half the civil servants aren’t there. Who’s going to make that happen?”
“If you think Rwanda’s laws work, there’s no way you’d hold early elections,” said another official.
Meanwhile, a former Interior Ministry insider said, “I can imagine officials drinking champagne until the wee hours of the morning” after hearing the news, adding that Rwanda is only part of the solution to the Straits issue. Mr Sunak suggested he had “further reconsidered” the idea. A crisis, not a silver bullet.
Even those who still work at the Home Office believe July’s election has highlighted problems with the Conservative government’s flagship plan to reduce illegal immigration.
“The Conservative plan was always to fly the plane and then hold the election, so the timing has been messed up,” the source said. IThey said there was “almost nothing clear” about policy “other than getting the planes flying.”
Another source said Home Office civil servants had doubts about whether the flights would be able to operate by July “given that some asylum seekers had gone missing and attempts to ground the planes were being challenged in court.”
But Mr Sunak insists policy remains on track and has suggested he wants Rwanda policy to remain a key electoral battleground.
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to scrap the scheme immediately if Labor wins, saying it will be the Prime Minister’s “choice of this election”.
“If I am re-elected Prime Minister, I will cancel these flights,” he told the BBC today. “We’re preparing. We’ve hired caseworkers, we’ve got airfields on standby, we’ve booked flights and we’re already detaining people.”
But the small boat crossings that the plan was supposed to deter are now at record numbers, with around 9,900 people making the journey so far this year, with numbers expected to surge in the summer. has been done.
Interior Ministry insiders say civil servants are still implementing Rwanda policy. However, the ministry has not been able to process asylum applications filed by migrants who arrived after April 2023. This is because the cases fall under a new law that has not yet taken effect, and the total number of unprocessed cases is 83,000.
Mr Sunak vowed that the Illegal Immigration Act, passed in July last year, would mean “if you enter the country illegally, you won’t be able to stay”, but this key law is unlikely to come into force before the election.
One civil servant said, “The laws are in place, but many policies are not.” “Some of it is, but it’s not clear enough to be implemented out of the box. The training package is far from finished, let alone started.”
Some of this behaviour has been ruled unlawful by the Belfast High Court. I We have previously reported how legal difficulties and unresolved ministerial decisions have hindered implementation.
Meanwhile, two separate legal challenges have been launched against subsequent government guidance on the implementation of the Safe Rwanda Act, with the first due to be heard in the High Court until next month, and individual challenges to the removals expected.
Election rules could have been another hurdle for planes taking off before the Fourth of July. For the plane to take off, ministers would have had to make a series of important decisions personally, which could have conflicted with the restrictions of the pre-election period. Purdah.
In previous deportation flights, ministers would personally decide who would board within 24 hours of takeoff. I I understand.
The Home Office began detaining people to board flights at the end of April, but some have already been released on immigration bail and further separate legal challenges are expected.
The government sought to strengthen its detention powers with last year’s Illegal Immigration Act, but internal rules state that the changes would prevent the Secretary of State from continuing to detain people if there is no prospect of deportation within a reasonable period of time. It is stipulated that it is not possible.
And legal experts said any move by Tory ministers to ignore the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling on the Rwanda flight, which they had promised during the campaign, would be a “serious political decision and probably a breach of international law”. Stated. .
According to the House of Commons Library, official guidance ahead of the general election, which comes into force tomorrow, means ministers and civil servants need to “exercise caution when making announcements or decisions that may affect the election campaign”.
It states that while “essential operations” may continue, it is customary for ministers to retain discretion when initiating new actions of an ongoing or long-term nature.
People familiar with the program said the Conservatives could have argued that Rwanda was not a new action or policy, but Labour’s intention to scrap the program would have made it difficult to take that position.
Another source familiar with the system said Home Office civil servants would now “triage” unresolved policies, marking them as “no real prospect of resolution before the purdah rules come into force” and “no real prospect of resolution”. They will begin the process of selecting those that have a promising future and a good reason to try to resolve them.
“The Home Office is going to have a tough job,” he added. “Even if it manages to clear the backlog of submissions before the limitations period rules come into play, other problems will arise.
“Putting policy into action during an election period is a big problem.”
A senior government official said Sunaku “absolutely” believed in Rwandan law.
“If we win the election, these flights will definitely be cancelled. This election, either join us in canceling the flights, or keep them on the ground and get an amnesty for illegal immigrants under Labor. It will be a choice whether to give it or not.”
Labour said it would scrap the Rwanda plan, process asylum claims “fast and humanely” and set up a new inter-ministerial border command to deal with small boat traffic.
Announcing the plan in May, Sir Keir called the Rwanda plan a “sham” and said: “We will restore a serious government to our borders, tackle this problem from the root and replace the Rwanda policy for good.” I swore.
Mr Sunak and Tory ministers tried to describe the plan as an “amnesty for illegal immigrants”, but Labor denied this, saying those who had no right to remain in the UK would be “swiftly deported”. Ta.
The government has repeatedly insisted the Rwanda plan will “deter” small boat crossings, but Labour argues figures since it was published in April 2022 prove it doesn’t work.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said Mr Sunak’s proposal not to take off planes before the election showed the plan was “a fraud from start to finish”.
“Rishi Sunak’s words confirm what we’ve known all along: he doesn’t believe this plan will work, which is why he’s called an election now in the desperate hope that he won’t find out. ,” she said.
A government spokesman said: “During the pre-election period, civil servants will continue to serve the government in accordance with the Civil Service Act.”