The nation’s go-to political analyst Professor Sir John Curtice has spelled out what Rishi Sunak must do before the General Election in order to prevent Reform UK from allowing Labour into office.
The Conservatives had a terrible by-election night, losing both Wellingborough and Kingswood to Labour. But perhaps just as concerning, was Reform UK’s strong showing in both ballots.
The insurgent anti-immigration, pro-Brexit party claimed 13% of the vote in Wellingborough and more than 10% in Kingswood, as the Tories saw a 37.8% and 21.7% collapse in its vote in each seat respectively.
Following the pair of ominous defeats, Prof Sir John said on the BBC that Conservative candidates will be concerned that Reform has vowed not to do a deal with the governing party. Attacking Rishi Sunak from the Right, business mogul Richard Tice’s party is applying pressure on the Tories to get a grip of the issues swathes of Britain want solved. Chiefly, the migrant crisis.
Sir John wrote: “…Tory MPs will now be even more concerned that the determination of Reform’s leader, Richard Tice, that his party should contest all Tory-held seats could cost them dearly.
“To fend off this threat, MPs on the right of the party are likely to increase the pressure on Rishi Sunak to ensure that some asylum seekers are flown to Rwanda sooner rather than later.”
Mr Sunak’s Rwanda Bill is currently being debated in the House of Lords. Critics on the Right that claim it is doomed to fail point to the Bill’s failure to disapply elements of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Baroness Lawlor, speaking in favour of Amendment 32 in a bid to disapply “relevant” domestic and international law from the Bill, told the Lords: “The first reason for this amendment is a practical one – it is pointless to make a law that is unlikely to work and that sadly seems to be the case for the present Bill unless it is amended.
“The second reason is a deeper one. There is no doubt that there’s a popular wish for the small boats to be stopped and that one of the reasons why the Government was elected was to control our borders.
“Unless it makes a law strong enough to withstand whatever challenge might be brought to it through national or international law, the Government will be failing the people on whose support the laws made to govern Britain should be grounded and trust in the democratic system – with its political parties, Parliament and government and the judiciary – will be lost.”
At a recent GB News People’s Forum in County Durham, Mr Sunak was quizzed on the inadequacy of his Rwanda Bill. One critical member of the audience asked the PM why was intent on pursuing it “when public documentation shows it isn’t working and that it’s not going to work”.
In response, he said: “We need to be able to say pretty simply and unequivocally that if you come to our country illegally, you won’t get to stay.
“We want to be able to remove you either to your home country if it’s safe, like we’ve done with Albania, and for everyone else we need an alternative and that’s what Rwanda is about.
“So yes, we’ve made progress – down by third – but in order to fully solve this problem, we need a deterrent. That’s what Rwanda is all about and that is why I’m absolutely committed to getting this bill through Parliament and getting this scheme up and running.”
