Rishi Sunak losing small boats battle as voters’ faith in him to stop Channel migrant crisis FALLS despite PM unveiling tough new laws
- Only 21 per cent of voters think Rishi Sunak will be able to deliver on his promise
Voters have lost faith in Rishi Sunak to deliver on his promise to tackle the Channel migrant crisis despite him unveiling tough new laws, polling shows.
The Prime Minister has vowed to ‘stop the boats’ as one of his main priorities and overseen a blitz of recent policy announcements aimed at stopping Channel crossings.
But, according to YouGov research for The Times, Mr Sunak is struggling to convince the public that his plans will work.
On 8 March, the day after the PM announced new legislation to toughen Britain’s asylum system, 26 per cent of voters thought it was likely Mr Sunak would be able to deliver, while 59 per cent thought it was unlikely.
A new poll conducted on 29-30 March showed only 21 per cent of people thought the PM would be able to deliver on his promise, with 63 per cent saying he was unlikely to be able to do so.
A new poll conducted on 29-30 March showed only 21 per cent of people thought the PM would be able to deliver on his promise
Rishi Sunak has vowed to ‘stop the boats’ as one of his main priorities and overseen a blitz of recent policy announcements aimed at stopping Channel crossings
Among those who voted Conservative at the last general election, only 32 per cent thought the PM was likely to be able to achieve his goal and 60 per cent thought it was unlikely.
The poll also showed that voters were sceptical about the Government’s pledge to end the practice of accommodating asylum seeksers in hotels.
Only 30 per cent thought the practice would end, while 52 per cent thought it probably would not.
Meanwhile, only 24 per cent believed that asylum seekers would actually be moved into barges or disused cruise ships – as has been suggested – while 54 per cent did not believe it would happen.
At the beginning of this year, the PM unveiled his five immediate priorities for his time in No10.
This included ‘passing new laws to stop small boats’, with the PM since having repeatedly promised to ‘stop the boats’.
Mr Sunak last week avoided a Tory rebellion over his Illegal Migration Bill, which he announced on 7 March, by promising to continue to speak with backbench MPs who were threatening to amend the legislation.
It means, if the PM fails to reach a deal with Tory rebels, he could face a tricky time in the House of Commons when the bill reaches its third reading stage.
Further pitfalls await Mr Sunak in the House of Lords, who are also likely to try and amend the legislation.
Under the bill, anyone arriving in Britain by crossing the Channel in a small boat – or any other unauthorised means – would no longer be able to claim asylum in the UK.
They would instead only be eligible for asylum in a ‘safe’ third country, such as Rwanda, and receive a lifetime ban on citizenship or re-entry to the UK.
Some Tory MPs do not believe the legislation is tough enough and have tabled a series of amendments to tighten rules.
But others in Mr Sunak’s party are pushing the PM to commit to establishing more safe routes via which asylum seekers can come to Britain.
A number are also concerned about the bill’s failure to exempt children from being detained after arriving in Britain.
Ministers have yet to put a date on when the PM hopes to achieve his ambition to ‘stop the boats’, while Home Secretary Suella Braverman has recently rowed back on suggestions the first flights to Rwanda under her migration deal could begin this summer.
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