Rishi Sunak backs plans to give Rwanda more cash to get migrant flights going – and could call snap election
RISHI Sunak believes giving Rwanda more cash is worth it to get migrant flights going.
And insiders say he could even call a snap election to break the deadlock.
Downing Street last night hit back at criticism over plans to hand Kigali an additional £15million on top of the £140million already sent.
It says it is value for money in the long run as it would “pale in comparison” with the £8million daily cost to house small boat arrivals in hotels.
Home Secretary James Cleverly hopes to unveil a new Rwanda treaty in days after the original plan was scuppered by the Supreme Court.
But the PM is still braced for an “almighty row” with lawyers and peers to get a single migrant deported, according to The Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh.
READ MORE ON MIGRATION
And a source told him that Mr Sunak is prepared to go to the country over the issue if continually thwarted.
A No 10 source said: “If there is an extra cost to addressing the problems the Supreme Court raised, we’re confident it pales in comparison to the £8million a day being spent on migrant hotels.”
Ex-Home Secretary Lord Howard backed Mr Sunak sticking with the Rwanda plan.
He said: “It is the right thing to be trying to do and worth spending the political capital on because this is a problem that really has to be dealt with.
Most read in The Sun
“He will have known from the start that it was going to be difficult but it’s certainly worth the effort to persist in.”