Sunak defends Rwanda plans under fire

After the resignation of Robert Jenrick last night, Rishi Sunak sought to get on the front foot this morning with a press conference in No. 10. The Prime Minister cut a somewhat frustrated figure as he defended his new Rwanda legislation, insisting that it ‘blocks every single reason that has ever been used to prevent flights.’ ‘The only extremely narrow exception will be if you can prove with credible and compelling evidence that you specifically have a real and imminent risk of serious and irreversible harm’ Sunak told reporters.

If the government face challenges from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Sunak repeated that he would not allow a foreign court to block flights. But were the bill to go any further, Sunak warned, the Rwandans will pull out and the scheme will collapse, pointing to Kigali’s statement last night. The Prime Minister ended by reiterating his absolute commitment to seeing the Rwanda plan through, calling on ‘everyone’ to support his new Bill and trying to turn the tables on Labour.