Rishi Sunak’s relentless insistence that his efforts to stop illegal migration are working is undermined by an ever-larger body of evidence of his failure.
It was revealed this week that a record number of migrants (4,644) have crossed the English Channel to Britain so far this year, with 514 arriving in just one single day. This statistical milestone was made more depressing when, reportedly, one individual was stabbed on a small boat stuffed with 60 people. So much for the plan to “stop the boats” being “on track.”
There has been some celebration of the fact that only 29,437 migrants made the perilous journey last year—the second-highest total ever recorded. But Border Force officials think that the upper projection for this year is as high as 50,000.
It is no wonder then that Sunak is apparently asking his Downing Street advisers:
Am I not very good at this? Why isn’t anything happening?
It can’t help that he never believed the Rwanda ‘plan’—to deter Channel crossings by sending migrants to the African nation for asylum processing—would work, as leaked documents suggest. Not to mention his views on legal migration, which former home secretary Suella Braverman claims he has “not necessarily assumed … [is] an important issue for the British people.”
And given the salience of legal and illegal immigration among British—and wider European—voters, it is equally no wonder that after 14 years of Conservative governments failing to control the nation’s borders, Sunak is doing so badly.
It is nigh on impossible to cover everything that is going wrong for his administration. The latest headlines/headaches include:
Reform UK—formerly the Brexit Party, which has been particularly critical of Sunak’s migration record—is now outpolling the Conservatives among British men. They are just one percent behind the governing party among both men and women in Wales, and on Thursday secured their highest national poll rating yet:16%.
63 Tory MPs have announced they will quit at the next election rather than continue to represent the party in Parliament. Many want to do things “completely different” to politics. Pundits say the total could reach 100, beating previous records by far.
Up to 500 Conservative seats on local councils are expected to be lost to other parties in elections on May 2nd. Tory insiders told Politico that this figure is “optimistic.”
Almost half of the party’s 2019 voters say they don’t believe the Conservatives deserve to win the next general election, according to one poll.
Regarding the pending general election, respected pollster Professor John Curtice said this week there is a 99% chance of a Labour victory.
The Home Office described these latest Channel crossing figures as “unacceptable.” Immigration alone may not be the be-all-and-end-all for voters, but all the above—and much more—makes it quite clear that vast swathes of the electorate agree with this assessment.
