Liz: Navy to stay on migrant patrol
LIZ Truss insisted she will “absolutely” use the Royal Navy to stop migrants crossing the English Channel illegally.
The Tory leadership frontrunner yesterday said the military presence would be maintained under her premiership if she wins the race for Number 10.
She gave the assurance after suggestions the approach to tackling the small boats crisis taken by Boris Johnson could end.
The Foreign Secretary said in Scotland: “It is an absolute priority to make sure we deal with the issue of small boats and the appalling trade by people traffickers.
“And I will use every tool at my disposal, if I am selected as prime minister, to make that happen.”
Ms Truss was asked about her plans after reports the Navy’s involvement is set to end in January.
As Simon Baynes, Illegal Migration Minister, visited in Dover yesterday, Defence Secretary BenWallace denied the date was new, insisting the timetable has always been clear.
The Ministry of Defence said: “As planned, defence support to the Home Office will continue until January 2023, at which point the operational and wider arrangements will be reviewed.
“We are working across Government to ensure the conditions are set for defence to hand the task back to the Home Office following the review.”
Ms Truss said the number of defence contracts being given to Scottish firms would increase if she becomes prime minister. She told the Tory grassroots at a hustings in Perth that defence spending would increase to three per cent of GDP by the end of the decade.
The Foreign Secretary also committed to renewing Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system currently located on the Clyde.
Meanwhile, leadership rival Rishi Sunak launched another brutal attack on Ms Truss’s promised tax cuts.
He said they “are worth about £1,700 to someone on her income. For someone working very hard on the national living wage, it’s worth about a quid a week.And for a pensioner not working, it’s worth precisely zero.
“Now I think if that’s the policy that the Government adopted, millions of people are at the risk of being kicked into destitution.
“I think it would be a moral failure.” He also insisted during the hustings that he remains committed to the Rwanda deportation scheme and would tackle the cost-of-living crisis by, among other things, “providing direct financial support to the most vulnerable, those on low incomes, and pensioners”.
Ms Truss and Mr Sunak will today face questioning in Northern Ireland.
The Foreign Secretary continued to win high profile support, with the 11 Conservative whips yesterday declaring as a group they support her bid.