Rishi Sunak’s immigration plan could be a game changer

Rishi Sunak today gave a potentially game-changing statement in the Commons, finally committing the Conservatives to effective action when it comes to combating illegal immigration.

The five-point plan unveiled by Sunak for addressing the issue of the Channel boats in the short-term will garner most of the headlines, but it is small beer compared to his most significant announcement.

Electoral salvation for the Tories won’t come via a new ‘unified small boats operational command’, a doubling of immigration enforcement raids, 10,000 new non-hotel accommodation places, faster processing of claims or even a fancy new deal with Albania. These are all incremental measures that will, at best, help at the margins.

Were this list of intended eye-catching initiatives all that Sunak had to offer then his statement would be worthy of the cynicism Keir Starmer showed – especially given all the previous ineffective gimmicks announced when Boris Johnson and Priti Patel were running things.