RISHI SUNAK accepted a £1000 bet from Piers Morgan that deportation flights to Rwanda will be up and running before the election.
The Prime Minister was confronted by the TalkTV host, who told him: “I’ll bet you £1,000 pounds to a refugee charity, you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election. Will you take that bet?”
The full interview will be available on Piers Morgan Uncensored’s YouTube channel on Monday at 2pm and on TalkTV at 8pm on Monday
AFPPrime Minister Rishi Sunak said he is working incredibly hard to get the flights to Rwanda off the ground[/caption]
The PM shook hands with Piers to seal the deal and stressed he is “working incredibly hard to get the people on the planes”.
He also said Rwanda is part of an “overall plan” that is “working”.
In the hour-long sit down for TalkTV filmed in 10 Downing Street, Piers slammed the Rwanda scheme as he argued the issue of legal migration seems “massively more problematic”.
He said: “Do you think that should be the priority, when at the same time the ONS just predicted, we could hit 73 million people who are in this country, coming in not on boats, but coming in the normal immigration system, by 2036.
“Most people go, ‘Well that seems massively more problematic to me’.”
But the PM insisted illegal migrants will stop coming as a result of the Rwanda policy.
He said: “People talk to me a lot about illegal migration, as I’m sure they talk to you [about it]. It’s important that we grip it. And Rwanda is one part of an overall plan that is working.
“And you say, you are scratching your head. Albania is an example of why it’s working.
“We created a new returns agreement with Albania, it meant that if people came here illegally, we could send them back. And you know what? They stopped coming. Rwanda will do the same thing for us.”
Piers fired back: “I do not think it’s going to work for you.”
Mr Sunak replied: “Okay, well, we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
Watch the full interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored’s YouTube channel on Monday at 2pm and on TalkTV at 8pm on Monday
WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE RWANDA PLAN?
What is the Rwanda Bill?
The Rwanda Bill ignores certain human rights laws in a radical bid to get deportation flights going and end the “scourge” of illegal migration.
The plan will disapply elements of the Human Rights Act which would have exposed the government to more relentless legal delay.
By also declaring in law that Rwanda is “safe”, ministers believe courts will be forced to throw out any challenges to their flagship scheme.
The bill will also let ministers override European Court of Human Rights edicts to block planes from taking off, like the one grounded at the last minute in 2022.
What happens next?
Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill has cleared the House of Commons and its first major hurdle in the House of Lords, but faces a bruising ride as the Archbishop of Canterbury warned it is “leading the nation down a damaging path”. Peers will seek to amend it during its Committee stage.
Will the Lords put up a fight?
Peers have already begun trying to water down the legislation. Many have made clear their disdain for the Rwanda plan, with arch-critic Lord Carlile and others already admitting he and many colleagues will try to sink it. Mr Sunak also lacks a majority in the Lords, and even if he did, peers – usually unbothered about climbing the political ladder – are far less likely to toe the party line.
So is it game over?
No. The will of the elected Commons trumps that of the unelected Lords. This means that while peers can totally gut the Rwanda Bill and send it back to MPs in a weakened form, the government can overrule these changes and throw it back to the Lords as they first voted for it. This back and forth – known as ping pong – can only happen so much before the peers cave and MPs get their way.
So what’s the problem?
By tabling relentless changes to the Bill, the Lords can grind up the whole process and ultimately push back Mr Sunak’s hope of getting the first flights off by the spring.
What has the PM said?
Mr Sunak last week fired a warning shot at the unelected peers not to stand in the way of MPs to thwart the vital Rwanda plan.
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