Watch: Sunak admits no Rwanda flights will go before election

As election campaigns officially kick off, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is back on the airwaves today just hours after he called a general election. On a wet Wednesday evening, a soaking Sunak called on the British people lend his party their support. The Tories would improve the economy, enhance national security and get tougher on migration, the Prime Minister pledged. And yet when quizzed on his immigration deterrent this morning, the PM’s response didn’t sound all that promising…

On BBC Breakfast, the Prime Minister was pressed on stats that showed record levels of illegal crossings to the UK between January to March of this year in a ‘reality check’ that he had ‘not stopped the boats’. On the specifics of his immigration deterrent, Sunak told viewers that flights to Rwanda would indeed leave in July — but was quick to caveat his promise:

If I’m re-elected as Prime Minister on 5 July, these flights will go.