James Cleverly backtracks after playing down the Rwanda asylum scheme, calling it a ‘key element’ of plans to tackle the Channel crisis
- The Home Secretary told MPs the programme was ‘incredibly important’
- Despite previously saying the plan was ‘not the be-all and end-all’
The Rwanda asylum scheme remains a ‘key element’ of plans to tackle the Channel crisis, James Cleverly insisted yesterday.
The Home Secretary told MPs the programme was ‘incredibly important’, despite saying at the weekend that the plan was ‘not the be-all and end-all’ of the Government’s efforts to tackle the issue.
Mr Cleverly declined to ‘pre-judge’ whether emergency legislation – being drawn up in the wake of the scheme being declared unlawful by the Supreme Court – would allow ministers to not apply parts of international agreements on human rights and refugees.
He said: ‘We will do everything we can to ensure that we break the business model of the evil people smugglers, that we drive down small-boat arrivals. The deterrent effect of Rwanda is a key element of that multi-strand approach. The Rwanda scheme is an incredibly important part of our basket of responses.’
Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis said last week’s record net migration figures were ‘completely unacceptable’ for the people in his constituency. He urged them to ‘copy and paste’ proposals to reduce the figures put forward by the New Conservatives grouping of Tory MPs.
James Cleverly insisted The Rwanda asylum scheme remains a ‘key element’ of plans to tackle the Channel crisis
Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis said last week’s record net migration figures were ‘completely unacceptable’ for the people in his constituency (File Photo)
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick replied: ‘The level of legal migration into this country is far too high. We have already announced a specific policy with respect to dependants which comes into force at the beginning of next year.’
It came after claims that Rishi Sunak agreed to raise the salary threshold for migrant workers from £25,000 to £40,000 as part of a deal with Suella Braverman, who was sacked as home secretary two weeks ago.
Identical measures were proposed by former PM Boris Johnson in his Mail column on Saturday, after figures showed net migration hit a record 745,000 last year, mostly driven by foreign workers.
Raising the minimum salary which must be paid by employers to overseas recruits would see a huge reduction in the number of work visas granted.
Mr Sunak yesterday insisted he was determined to cut net migration, saying the figures ‘need to come down to more sustainable levels’.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove admitted the immigration figures will force Britain to build thousands more homes on greenfield sites, and that the Government’s target to build a million new homes in this parliamentary term would not be enough.
Source: Read Full Article
