New Statesman
22 April 2024
The Rwanda bill won’t save the Tories
A fascinating bit of polling, conducted by More In Common earlier this month, asked people whether and in what circumstances they would consider the plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda in order to deter illegal Channel crossings “a success”.
Just 10 per cent of people said it would be a success regardless of the impact it had on Channel crossings, 22 per cent said it would have to significantly reduce crossings, and 25 per cent that it would have to eliminate crossings entirely. Crucially, support was no greater among those who voted Conservative in 2019 – indeed, 33 per cent of 2019 Tory voters said they would only consider the Rwanda plan a success if crossings stopped altogether. As a reminder, Rwanda has only agreed to take up to 150 migrants, at a cost of £1.8m each, making its capacity to stop crossings a highly contentious topic.
