Truss: I’d send more migrants away to Africa
Tory leadership favourite promises to expand refugee policy as Boris guns for Sunak ‘the silent assassin’
LIZ Truss today vows to implement a hard line on immigration if she wins the keys to No10 – including extending the scheme under which migrants who cross the Channel in small boats can be sent to Rwanda.
The Foreign Secretary uses an interview with The Mail on Sunday to try to cement her lead over Rishi Sunak by promising to increase frontline border staff by 20 per cent, and by striking Rwanda-style deals with more countries.
Her pledges come as Mr Sunak – who has denied claims he tried to block the controversial policy while in Cabinet – yesterday set out his own plan to tackle immigration.
Ms Truss says: ‘The Rwanda policy is the right policy. I’m determined to see it through, as well as exploring other countries we can work on similar partnerships with.
‘I’m also going to increase the Border Force to make sure we have the proper protection in place directly at the border.’
The clash came as:
Mr Sunak denounced Ms Truss’s tax cuts as ‘immoral’ and railed against the ‘forces that be’ trying to install her in No10, in an apparent dig at Boris Johnson loyalists;
The former Chancellor used a speech to denounce the Foreign Secretary’s plans to reverse his tax increases. But allies of Ms Truss said it was ‘daft’ to argue there was no room for tax cuts;
The MoS learned new details of the ‘cold war’ between Mr Johnson and his former Chancellor. The pair have not spoken since Mr Sunak’s resignation on July 5, and ‘blanked’ each other when they recently passed in the Commons;
An MoS poll of Tory voters put Mr Johnson top of the ‘Best Prime Minister’ rankings, followed by Ms Truss and then Mr Sunak.
In today’s interview, Ms Truss also takes aim at former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings, who is supporting Mr Sunak, and distances herself from comparisons with Margaret Thatcher.
Her intervention over immigration came after the initial stages of the Tory leadership campaign were dominated by rows over tax policy, with Ms Truss promising to axe Mr Sunak’s National Insurance rise to stimulate growth.
The Foreign Secretary says that if she beats her rival in the ballot of party members on September 5 she will increase frontline Border Force staff from 9,000 to 10,800.
Ms Truss will also introduce a strengthened Bill of Rights to give a ‘sound legal basis’ to address illegal immigration. Ms Truss tells the MoS: ‘I’m determined to end the appalling people trafficking we’re seeing. We must make sure the Bill of Rights fully delivers on giving the UK Government the powers to be able to deliver the policy in full. That’s very important for me.
‘Britain’s borders will be protected under my leadership and I will do what it takes to make the Rwanda deal fully implemented and also look to other arrangements with other countries.’
Mr Sunak’s plan includes new laws to tighten who qualifies for asylum and the introduction of a cap on refugee numbers. The former Chancellor has also promised to hold ‘the French to account with clear targets for stopping boats’ while ending the ‘farce’ of using hotels to house migrants.
Mr Sunak said: ‘Our immigration system is broken with boats full of illegal immigrants coming from the safe country of France.
‘It must stop and if I am Prime Minister I will stop it.’
The Rwandan Government has conceded it currently only has the capacity to take 200 migrants from the UK, although officials say they would be able to ‘scale up quickly’ and were ready to ‘take as many as the UK is willing to send’. Britain has paid £120million to Rwanda
‘We need to make sure immigration is fair’
and could be liable for the cash even if the policy is ruled unlawful in a judicial review before the High Court in September.
More than 10,000 migrants have arrived in the UK in small boats since the deal was signed in midApril. In total, more than 15,000 have crossed the Channel this year, almost double the number that had arrived by this time last year.
The first flight to Rwanda was blocked from departing last month after an 11th-hour ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
Ms Truss adds: ‘I’m somebody who gets things done and it is a priority to stop the appalling abuse that’s taking place in the Channel.’